Use Of Naloxone To Save Lives

From the City of Richfield:

March 10, 2020

Over the past couple of weeks, the city has received several questions regarding our first responders' use of Naloxone, or more commonly known as Narcan, so we thought providing more information would be helpful.

The Police and Fire Departments respond to a variety of medical calls including potential drug overdoses. The Fire Department is the Emergency Medical Services (EMS) first response agency for the city. This is due to the fact that the department has full-time staff trained and certified as Emergency Medical Technicians (EMTs). Our firefighters are dispatched at the same time as police to all overdose calls.

The Fire Department carries Naloxone (Narcan), regularly trains on its administration and is highly-proficient in pre-hospital respiratory and cardiac arrest management. Firefighters and police officers work as a team to provide the best service for the patient and this model has proven to have very positive patient outcomes. The Police and Fire Chiefs feel that this is the most effective approach to overdose response.

Since April of 2019, we have had 25 incidents where Naloxone was administered as a nasal drug and saved Richfield citizens from overdoses.

This press release was produced by the City of Richfield. The views expressed here are the author’s own.