ELKHART — Paramedics with the City of Elkhart responded to an unusually high number of calls Friday for drug overdose cases — a total of five in a period of ten hours.
"While we don’t yet know the exact circumstances surrounding these overdoses, what we do know is that five in one day is an alarmingly high rate," Elkhart Director of Communications Corinne Straight said in a Friday evening news release. "This number of overdoses in such a small amount of time indicates the possibility of an unknown presence in the drugs people are buying."
On Saturday, in follow up, the City of Elkhart released a video on social media in which Mayor Rod Roberson, Elkhart Police Chief Kris Seymore, and Fire Chief Shaun Edgerton briefly addressed the issue. Roberson mentioned that, over the past month, there has been a "dramatic" increase in the number of overdoses reported in the city, which has led to several deaths.
"This suggests that drugs are being laced with an unknown substance," Roberson added, but did not specify if Friday's overdoses specifically had led to any fatalities.
Seymore and Edgerton went on to recommend that community residents become familiar with Narcan, which is carried by all city firefighters and paramedics and is used in overdose cases. It can also be purchased at area pharmacies, where training in how to administer it is available.
Dr. Bruce Hughes is an Emergency Department Physician at Goshen Hospital.
"We would give Narcan in the field and in the emergency department for patients with suspected opioid overdose," he said by email. "Commonly abused drugs are heroin, fentanyl (and its related synthetic drugs), dilaudid, oxycodone, hydrocodone, morphine, codeine, tramadol, methadone and buprenorphine."
Hughes said that opioid-laced marijuana provides an additional complication.
"The problem is that this is often smoked instead of being injected which changes the pharmokinetics and duration of symptoms," he said. "Narcan will not last long enough to reverse the effects, and patients may need to be admitted for continuous Narcan infusion and close observation."
Hughes said that the bottom line is that there is no quality control for illicit drugs.
"The COVID-19 pandemic has seen an uptake nationally and locally of fatal and non-fatal opioid overdose cases," he said. "In general, if the patient receives Narcan quickly in the field given by bystanders, police or EMS, they stand a reasonable chance of survival. If they are not found quickly however, respiratory depression, apnea and cardiovascular arrest occur, often resulting in death."
Hughes warns people not to abuse drugs, especially if they don't know exactly what they are ingesting.
"Get help with drug treatment," he said. "I do think letting the public know that these drugs are out there is quite helpful."
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