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As of Wednesday night, an open letter to the university had more than 480 signatures.
WASHINGTON — Hundreds of American University students and alumni are calling on the university to make Narcan, a brand of naloxone, available at all dorms on campus.
In an open letter to American University, they called for change and garnered signatures from more than 400 people as of Wednesday night.
"It's heartwarming, it's really nice to see the passion come through," said Therese Wilson.
Wilson told WUSA9 this letter came to light because of an overdose on campus over the weekend.
However, this call in itself has brought to light some concern.
In scanner audio, dispatchers are heard at 3:22 a.m., dispatching first responders to 400 Massachusetts Avenue Northwest.
They repeat the call again at 3:26 a.m., this telling crews they are "responding for an overdose of a 19-year-old female at McDowell Hall, 400 Massachusetts Avenue NW, cross of 4th street".
Around 3:29 a.m., first responders ask "can you verify the address. No one here has called. McDowell Hall should be at AU, which is 4000 Mass Ave".
At 3:34 a.m., the crews are put back in service and less than a minute later, a different set of first responders are dispatched to the correct address.
"Respond for overdose, 4400 Massachusetts NW," the dispatcher is heard saying.
DC Fire and EMS confirmed that they transported a 19-year-old woman to the hospital in "non life-threatening condition."
They directed our request for comment on the error by dispatchers to the DC Office of Unified Communications. As of Wednesday night, they had not responded to our request for comment.
"DC Fire and EMS responded to a 911 call Saturday night and provided medical response to a campus visitor. Any inquiries about response time should be directed to DC Fire, as American University has no role in their dispatch processes," said Matt Bennett, Vice President, and Chief Communications Officer at American University in a statement to WUSA9.
"I was disappointed and heartbroken," said Wilson.
She graduated from American University in 2021.
"I'm in graduate school right now for public health at Columbia, so public health is everything. Narcan is quintessential to public health," she said.
American University shared the following statement with WUSA9:
American University is working with our community on the appropriate approach for Narcan on campus while addressing significant legal and regulatory elements under DC law. We support training and education for the community on Narcan use and safety. We have received the letter from our alumni and will respond to them.
As of Wednesday night, Wilson told WUSA9 she hadn't heard from them yet.
"I'm excited to get this conversation going and hopefully get some action with Narcan on campus soon," she said.
To see her letter, click here.
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