Pubdate: Wed, 30 Apr 2014 Source: Republican, The (Springfield, MA) Copyright: 2014 The Republican Contact: http://www.masslive.com/contactus/ Website: http://www.masslive.com/republican/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/3075 Author: George Graham Bookmark: http://mapinc.org/topic/naloxone DEERFIELD POLICE: NARCAN REVIVES 3 SUFFERING FROM SUSPECTED HEROIN OVERDOSES WITHIN 72-HOUR SPAN DEERFIELD - Narcan, an increasingly available drug used to counter the effects of heroin overdose, has revived three people within a recent 72-hour span, Police Chief John Paciorek Jr. said. "Until you have witnessed this in person you can't describe it," Paciorek said of the drug's ability to bring those suspected of overdosing on heroin - often literally on the brink of death - back to life within seconds. The first suspected overdose, involving a 30-year-old woman who was described as unresponsive at a River Road residence, was reported about 11:30 a.m. on Sunday, Paciorek said. A friend of the woman administered the Narcan, in a nasal spray form, moments before police and emergency medical personnel arrived on the scene. The woman, Paciorek said, was breathing sporadically, reportedly as low as once every 8-10 seconds, before she was given the drug. "That's the point where they are about to stop breathing completely," Paciorek said, adding a normal person at rest breathes some 12 to 16 times a minute. The woman regained consciousness within 30 to 40 seconds and was soon talking with emergency personnel at the scene. She was taken to a hospital for monitoring because the effects of Narcan can wear off fairly quickly and it needs to be re-administered by medical professionals, Paciorek said. "They needed to be monitored very closely at a medical facility," he said. The second suspected overdose involved a 24-year-old woman from Vermont who went into cardiac arrest shortly before 6:30 p.m. on Monday at the Neighbors Connection convenience store and gasoline station on Route 116. Police and a doctor who happened to be at the scene initiated CPR. Paramedics from the Northampton Fire Department arrived a short time later and administered Narcan, Paciorek said. Within a very short period of time, that woman went from cardiac arrest to being able to talk with paramedics as they prepared to take her to a hospital, Paciorek said. The third suspect overdoes, involving a third female, was reported at a River Road address shortly after 6:40 p.m. on Tuesday. The woman, unresponsive and breathing shallowly, was revived by Deerfield emergency medical personnel and taken to Baystate Medical Center in Springfield, Paciorek said. "She was conscious and alert prior to leaving the scene," Paciorek said. The three incidents were not the first times that Narcan has been successfully administered to suspected heroin overdoses here in town. Two victims were similarly revived, one in late December and the other in early January, Paciorek said. Paciorek said Deerfield paramedics have been equipped with Narcan and trained in its use for about six weeks now. Deerfied police are posed to begin training in the use of the drug and hopefully will have it in their cruisers within a few weeks, he said. The West Springfield Fire Department became the first in Western Massachusetts to equip its fire engines with Narcan last month. Paciorek said heroin overdoses are on the rise in this small Franklin County town, as it is in many other communities in Western Massachusetts, Vermont and elsewhere in New England. "It's everywhere," he said. Last month, Gov. Deval Patrick declared the heroin problem to be a public heath emergency. Many in the law enforcement and social service fields say heroin problem has fueled by the medical world's over-reliance on the use of such opioid-based drugs as oxycodone. Paciorek said now that access to such powerful prescription drugs is being more closely monitored, addicts are turning to heroin because it is so cheap and readily available. A bag of heroin, which goes for about $5 in the streets of Springfield, can be sold in Deerfield for some $7 to $8 a bag, he said. "There are some people who spend more on tobacco each day than heroin addicts spend," he said. A special state Senate committee, formed in January to study drug addiction and treatment options throughout the state, convened a hearing on the issue Monday at Providence Behavioral Health Hospital. - --- MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom