Narcan Training Has Quick Impact for Galloway Police

It wasn’t long before Galloway Township Police saved a life with the heroin antidote for the first time.

Galloway Police Officers Chris Magazzu and Jackie Crocker had just completed training in the use of Narcan, which is used for treating opiate overdoses, when they were dispatched to 1st Avenue for a report of an unconscious person, around 7:30 p.m. Thursday night.

The officers arrived and found the patient to be unconscious and not breathing. The officers administered Narcan and provided rescue breathing until Galloway Township Ambulance Squad and Atlanticare Paramedics arrived. The patient was revived and transported to AtlantiCare Regional Medical Center Mainland Campus.

Police had responded with EMS to multiple suspected heroin overdoses over the past week, several of which have been fatal, according to the Galloway Police Department.

Chief Chuck Uhl of the Galloway Township Ambulance Squad has spent the last week training and equipping nearly all Galloway Police Officers in the use of Narcan.

In 2013, legislators passed the Opioid Antidote and Overdose Prevention Act, which made it legal for law enforcement officials to carry Naloxone/Narcan, a heroin antidote previously only available to hospital staff.

The act doesn’t limit possession and administration of the antidote to police officers. It provides immunity for witnesses and drug overdose victims, and allows both healthcare professionals or pharmacists and non-healthcare professionals to dispense the antidote in emergency situations.

The average amount of time it would take a hospital employee to administer the antidote is 15 minutes, while police can administer within two to four minutes and family and friends who possess the antidote can administer it immediately.

“Officers often arrive at medical emergencies prior to EMS, and with the ability to administer Narcan it is hoped that more lives will be saved in the future,” police said. “The Police Department would like to recognize Chief Uhl and the staff and Board of Directors of the Galloway Township Ambulance Squad for their continuing support of our agency. We are very fortunate to have an outstanding working relationship with GTAS which ultimately benefits the residents and visitors of our community.”