By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter
CHEHALIS – Centralia police just recently trained to carry and use doses of Narcan administered the opiate antidote to a woman found not breathing and without a pulse last night and she was revived.
An officer responded to a 12:46 a.m. call for a reported drug overdose at the 800 block of Euclid Way, according to the Centralia Police Department. The 36-year-old woman appeared to be overdosing on heroin, according to police.
The officer administered Narcan and began CPR. The woman became responsive and was transported to the emergency room at Providence Centralia Hospital.
It was just last month when the Lewis County Department of Public Health and Social Services announced it had received a grant which would provide the specialized training for law enforcement officers from the Centralia Police Department, the Chehalis Police Department and the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office.
“Officers often see overdose patients before emergency medical aid arrives or has even been summoned,” LCPHSS employee Katie Strozyk stated in a press release. “With this training, they will be able to administer Narcan to those found in severe distress from an apparent opioid overdose.”
Officers are being deployed with the nasal spray form of the drug Naloxone, which counteracts and reverses the life-threatening effects of an opioid overdose, according to Strozyk.
Opioids include both prescription and illicit drugs, such as oxycodone, hydrocodone, morphine, heroin, and fentanyl. Opioids cause death by slowing, and eventually stopping the victim’s breathing.
Strozyk says there are no ill effects on the patient if Narcan is administered and no opioids are present.
The new tool is part of a strategy to combat the opioid epidemic and reduce overdose deaths in Lewis County, according to Strozyk.
Strozyk said that in Lewis County, 42 overdose deaths from opioids occurred between 2011 and 2015. Nationwide 33,091 people died in 2015 from an opioid overdose, she said.
The opioid epidemic was declared a national emergency on August 10, following the recommendation of the President’s Commission on Combating Drug Addiction and Opioid Crisis.
President Donald J. Trump instructed his administration to use all appropriate emergency and other authorities to respond to the crisis caused by the opioid epidemic.
The local program was made possible by a $3,000 grant awarded to Lewis County Department of Public Health and Social Services by the West Region EMS Trauma & Care Council and in collaboration with the University of Washington’s Alcohol & Drug Abuse Institute.
Strozyk notes that Narcan may also be used by officers who have been exposed to a high-potency drug, such as fentanyl, which can be absorbed through the skin or inhaled if it becomes airborne.
“Law enforcement agencies nationwide have seen an increase in accidental exposures to the opiate drug fentanyl which can have lethal consequences if not treated immediately,” Washington State Patrol Lt. Mike Eggleston said earlier this month.
The state patrol is distributing Narcan to Washington State crime labs in case of accidental exposures.
The state patrol also recently began issuing Narcan to troopers, and eventually all troopers will have it in their patrol cars.
Drug overdose is the leading cause of unintentional injury death in Washington state, ahead of motor vehicle-related deaths.
The Good Samaritan drug overdose law protects persons who seek medical assistance for someone experiencing a drug-related overdose, and the patient, from being charged or prosecuted for possession of a controlled substance.
Join us