Lake County Naloxone Program Saves 49 Lives

Lake County Sheriff Mark Curran said 49 lives have been saved in Lake County since officers were first armed with Naloxone, an opiod reversal drug, last year.

A call early Wednesday marked the 12th save made by Lake County Sheriff’s Office deputie. Deputies were called to the 25500 block of North Countryside Drive in Lake Barrington at about 12:25 a.m. to assist an ambulance with a 27-year-old woman who was overdosing on heroin, according to a sheriff’s office press release. She was not responding and not breathing when officers arrived.

Deputy Kevin Crowley administered a dose of Naloxone to the victim and began administering CPR. The victim didn’t respond and Deputy Crowley administered a second dose of Naloxone, and the woman began to breathe on her own.

The woman was taken to Good Shepherd Hospital in Barrington for treatment and was alert and conscious by the time she arrived at the hospital, police said.

“The quick actions of Lake County Sheriff’s Office employees, along with their training and equipment, have allowed a 12th life to be saved to opioid overdose by the Sheriff’s Office,” Curarn said. “This marks the 49th life saved in Lake County since the Naloxone program began, just over one year ago.”

The Lake County Sheriff’s Office is a member of the Lake County Opioid Imitative, a countywide coalition diligently working to prevent opioid use, abuse, misuse, addiction, overdose, and death.

The Lake County Health Department trains Lake County law-enforcement on the use and deployment of Naloxone utilizing an Evzio auto-injector. The auto-injectors are available to Lake County law enforcement through a donation the Lake County Health Department received from a Virginia based pharmaceutical company.

“Prevention and education are extremely important components in combating opioid overdose. We urge all members of the community to be alert to warning signs and the resources which exist to battle this epidemic,” Undersheriff Ray Rose said,