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.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom