Local Man Saves Heroin User's Life At Pilcher Park

NEW LENOX, IL - A New Lenox area resident has been credited with saving the life of a man who was overdosing on drugs at Joliet's Pilcher Park. A press release issued by Will County Executive Larry Walsh's staff said that Jerry Reeves recently underwent training on how to administer Narcan. Then, this past Sunday, Reeves saw someone he suspected of overdosing. And he stepped into action.

“I was in a park in south Joliet when I noticed a parked car and a man lying on the ground next to it,” Jerry Reeves said in the press release. “There was also a woman standing there so I went over to offer help. The woman told me the man was drunk but I recognized the symptoms of an overdose.

“She admitted he had used heroin so I rushed back to my car and grabbed the Narcan I had.”

On Thursday, Reeves told the Chicago Tribune he saw the man near the Pilcher Park greenhouse, so Reeves retrieved his Narcan kit and gave the spray to the victim, which revived him.

"I thought, 'Holy Cow! This stuff works,'" Reeves told the Tribune. "I've never seen anything like it."

To read the full article and to learn more about Will County's ongoing efforts to train more volunteers on how to use Narcan, visit the Chicago Tribune here.

File Image of Pilcher Park via Google Maps