43
Hubbard township police gain antidote to heroin overdose
By Sarah Lehr
HUBBARD
Hubbard Township police have added a new tool to their arsenal for fighting drug overdoses.
Narcan or Naloxone reverses the effects of opioids, including heroin, by displacing the drugs from receptors in the brain and causing a patient to resume breathing. If administered quickly during an overdose, Narcan can save a life.
The township police department received 10 Narcan kits along with training from the Trumbull County Combined Health District through a program called Project DAWN (Deaths Avoided with Naloxone). Each kit is valued at about $89 and contains two doses of the drug, which are administered nasally.
The health district has distributed more than 60 Narcan kits to police departments, health facilities and the public. The Trumbull Memorial Health Foundation, a supporting organization of the Community Foundation of the Mahoning Valley, provided the health department with a grant for the kits and the Trumbull County Mental Health and Recovery Board offered additional financial assistance.
The Mahoning County District Board of Health has also launched a Narcan distribution program.
The area’s heroin problem has gotten so bad that advocates, health officials and members of law enforcement have dubbed it an epidemic. Trumbull County saw 54 deaths from heroin overdoses in 2014, according the coroner. In Hubbard Township alone, police responded to 14 heroin incidents in 2014 and, at last count, nine incidents in 2015, according to data provided by the police department.
“Anytime there’s heroin involved, that’s cause for concern,” township Police Chief Todd Coonce said.
Sgt. Ronald Fusco noted that police often are the first to respond to the scene of an overdose, which makes officers essential for administering Narcan.
“Our officers are mobile, they’re in their vehicles, and sometimes we arrive at a scene a couple minutes before the paramedics do,” Fusco said in a written statement. “Depending on the situation, those couple minutes could mean the difference between life and death.”
Narcan is effective against heroin, OxyContin, Vicodin, Percocet and Fentanyl. Fentanyl, a powerful painkiller, has recently turned up as an additive to heroin. In fact, overdose often occurs when a user takes unexpectedly potent heroin laced with something such as Fentanyl, Fusco said.
Registered Nurse Kathy Parrilla, a coordinator of Project DAWN through Trumbull County, said Narcan primarily serves as a last resort during life or death situations, but that Narcan also can be the first step on the road to recovery.