Determined to save lives

NICK EICHER, HOST: Today is Wednesday, July 7th. Thank you for turning to WORLD Radio to help start your day.

Good morning. I’m Nick Eicher.

MARY REICHARD, HOST: And I’m Mary Reichard. Coming next on The World and Everything in It: Pulled back from the brink of death.

COVID’s disruption of daily life hit substance abusers hard. Overdose fatalities were already on the rise. And by the end of May 2020, the 12-month toll reached the highest number ever recorded in the United States.

EICHER: But an overdose doesn’t always mean it’s over.

WORLD Senior Correspondent Kim Henderson recently attended a training session for first responders who serve on the front lines in the war against drug deaths.

Here’s her report.

KIM HENDERSON, SENIOR CORRESPONDENT: Police Officer Jonathan Hart remembers the call that came into his precinct, a hysterical young woman reporting that her mother wouldn’t wake up.

HART: By the time I've got to the residence, I went inside. I seen a lady laying on the couch. Um, I attempted a sternum rub, and she was just non-responsive. So my first idea was go and grab my Narcan . . .

Yes. The other hero besides Officer Hart is a four-milligram wonder called Narcan. It’s a medication that has the ability to temporarily reverse the effects of a deadly dose of opioids.

HART: . . . put it in her nose, pushed the button and shoot it like you would nose spray. And as soon as it came and it hit her, she woke right up. And, uh, from there, we went ahead and had EMS dispatched.

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Hart and a roomful of other first responders have gathered inside the local courthouse. It’s Monday night, 5:30. Some wear uniforms and the look of a hard day’s work. Others are headed to a night shift.

They’ve all come for the Narcan distribution and training session, the first one held in their area in three years.

Narcan is the brand-name version of the overdose antidote naloxone. It’s important to note that Narcan reverses opiate overdose—drugs like OxyContin, heroin, and fentanyl. Narcan won’t help reverse an alcohol overdose, or cocaine or methamphetamine.

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Jess Greer is the medical trainer for Mississippi’s 14th Circuit Drug Court. He’s also a part-time police officer and a bivocational pastor. Tonight, Greer is speaking at the distribution, and one of the big topics surrounding Narcan is officer responsibility. They’re not EMTs. Are they required to administer it?

GREER: It's an individual decision. The state statute is written that the officer shall have the discretion of use of Narcan or the non-use. That's between you and your God, because I mean, you are ultimately making a life decision for that person. Yes, they made the decision to partake in the usage of an illicit drug, but we have been given the opportunity to reverse the effects of it . . .

During the session, leaders stress that state statute. They assure attendees they can’t be sued regardless. That’s a comfort to new officer Andrew Rector, but he’s committed to using Narcan regardless.

RECTOR: I came into this career to save lives and make a difference. Thankfully with Narcan we can battle one more demon that this world has . . .

Rector has seen what Narcan can do. Once, he and Officer Hart were attempting to serve a felony warrant. But Hart says a woman at the house was more concerned about the subject’s possible arrest than his possible overdose.

HART: The female actually covered him up to hide him from us, telling us, diverting us to the attic. And he was unconscious. He was not speaking. He was not moving from there . . .

Rector went for the Narcan. He shoved the rubber nozzle as far as he could into the subject’s nose, then pushed the release.

RECTOR: We waited about three to four minutes. There was still no sign of any coherence, any movement from him. So that's when I went and got another Narcan, another four-milligram Narcan.

The second dose did the trick, and the subject recovered.

Narcan isn’t just for drug abusers. Contact with fentanyl is so serious the Drug Enforcement Agency made a video warning police officers and first responders about the risk. They say as long as it’s on the streets, those assigned to protect and serve are going to bump into it.

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Later, Jess Greer gives the audience a local example.

GREER: There was actually a guy about a year ago that was in an evidence room and touched fentanyl and was down in like 15 seconds. The only thing that saved him was another officer hit him with Narcan.

Another distribution organizer got behind the mic for a special announcement. He held up one of the bottles.

TAYLOR: Anybody can buy this in Mississippi. It’s not prescription now . . .

Narcan. Available over the counter. For about $15 dollars. Officer Hart says that’s good news.

HART: People keep fire extinguishers in their house, you know, for a fire. If you have somebody that's abusing drugs, why not have a, a Narcan just in case that that day comes and you need it.

Narcan can save a life, but it doesn’t solve the addiction problem. Advocates say that’s OK. It buys time and second chances.

And for Christians involved in administering Narcan, there’s hope that the extra time and the second chance could later lead to a rescue of the spiritual kind. Because no one—not even the most addicted substance abuser on death’s door—is beyond the arm of God.

Reporting for WORLD, I’m Kim Henderson in Brookhaven, Mississippi.

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