The Athens County Sheriff's Office has Narcan, a drug that can reverse the effects of an opiod overdose, in each cruiser for deputies to administer if needed.
On Christmas Eve, Deputy Mike Burba responded to a call where he saw a blue-faced man taking gurgled breaths of air.
“When I walked in, I knew he wasn’t breathing,” Burba, Athens County Sheriff’s Office deputy, said.
Burba knew he was looking at an opiate overdose and quickly administered Narcan, a medicine equipped in each Athens County Sheriff’s Office cruiser in late fall 2015. If the medicine wasn’t available the male would have died, Burba said.
Narcan is a drug administered through a nasal spray that reverses the effects of an opiate overdose, allowing the individual time to reach a hospital.
One of the possible opioids that Narcan reverse the effects of is heroin, which kills roughly 10 Athens County residents annually. In 2014, there were a total of 56 drug cases recorded by the sheriff's office in the county.
The sheriff’s office had a nurse from the county health department train employees to use Narcan in late fall 2015.
“Sometimes the deputies will get there before the paramedics,” Athens County Sheriff Rodney Smith said. “We want to make sure our officers are as prepared as they can be.”
The sheriff’s office has 16 Narcan kits provided by the Athens City-County Health Department that hold two doses of the medicine, a face mask for CPR and a flip book of instructions of how to administer the medicine.
Smith added that when the sheriff’s office received its budget, it had a surplus of money. That’s when the department bought the backpacks and safety equipment for the deputies, Smith said. The Narcan kits were free, provided by funding by a grant from the Ohio Department of Health.
At the end of a shift, deputies take that backpack inside so the Narcan doesn’t freeze or overheat. To maintain the shelf life, Narcan needs to be kept at room temperature, James Gaskell, Athens City-County Health Department health commissioner, said.
“It’s a wonderful advancement because they often are the first people called to the scene of overdoses, and I think it’s really important for them to be carrying this,” Gaskell said.
Gaskell added that Narcan blocks and reverses the effects of the opiods on the respiratory center. When administered, Narcan knocks the opioids off the respiratory center allowing the individual to resume breathing.
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In total, the health department has distributed 48 free kits — including the 16 given to the sheriff’s office — to Athens County residents since the introduction of the program in 2014.
The heath department offers opiate users, or the friends and families of opiate users, a training course on how to administer Naloxone with a free kit.
The kit includes a training DVD, two vials for the administration of Naloxone and face shields in case CPR needs to be performed.
“We know of two rescues from Narcan.” Gaskell said. “That’s two lives saved, and that’s of great value.”
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