Pubdate: Mon, 19 May 2014
Source: Journal News, The (NY)
Copyright: 2014 The Gannett Company, Inc.
Contact:  http://www.lohud.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1205
Author: Marcela Rojas

YONKERS COPS SAVE SECOND OVERDOSE VICTIM WITH ANTIDOTE

On May 8, the Yonkers Police Department's Emergency Service Unit began
carrying naloxone and have since had to use the drug to save two
people in the throes of a heroin overdose.

YONKERS - Members of the police department's Emergency Service Unit
saved a 24-year-old Carmel man overdosing on heroin, the second time
in a week they successfully utilized naloxone.

The man was found unconscious in the back seat of a parked car along
Yonkers and Central Park avenues at approximately 12:14 a.m.,
Saturday. He had no radial pulse and was not breathing, police said.

An officer administered the intranasal spray, also known under the
brand name Narcan, and within two minutes the man responded, Detective
Lt. Patrick McCormack said. He was transported to a local hospital.

McCormack said the matter is still under investigation and that the
man has not been charged at this time.

On May 10, the Yonkers unit responded to a residence on the east side
of Yonkers where a 28-year-old woman was experiencing a heroin
overdose. They administered naloxone and within minutes she began to
breathe on her own.

The success the department has had in saving lives should not deter
people from seeking treatment, McCormack stressed.

"A lot of it is timing," he said.

Earlier this year, Yonkers police began the process to train their
Emergency Service Unit in the use of Narcan. The members are already
trained as emergency medical technicians. They began carrying the kits
in the unit's trucks May 8.
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MAP posted-by: Matt