ANDERSON — When it comes to an overdose, the time a drug, such as Narcan, is administered can mean the difference between life and death.
Community Hospital Anderson will donate Narcan for each police officer in Madison County to administer in potentially lethal overdose situations. The hospital will also train the officers in how to recognize a situation the drug needs to be used in and how to administer it.
Narcan is a drug that can reverse the effects of opioids, such as heroin, methadone and oxycodone.
This program includes officers from departments in Anderson, Alexandria, Elwood, Edgewood, Frankton, Summitville, Chesterfield, Pendleton, Ingalls, Lapel, Markleville and Madison County sheriff's deputies. Only officers who patrol regularly will be trained and carry Narcan.
Once trained, officers will each carry two vials of Narcan. Each vial is one dose for anyone over the age of 5.
Sheriff Scott Mellinger said his department applied for a grant in January for all officers in the county, except for one department that opted out, to use Narcan and get trained. The Sheriff's Department did not receive the grant, but he has worked with Community Hospital Anderson since it showed interest in funding a project like this.
Mellinger said it isn’t just about police officers being trained and equipped with Narcan; he thinks all first responders should be prepared.
“Anyone of us could get to a victim first,” he said.
When officers use a vial on a victim, they will return to Community Hospital Anderson to receive a replacement vial.
The initial purchase of Narcan kits for the county’s officers has cost $25,000. That doesn’t include the costs of training.
Narcan is used frequently in emergency rooms. Madison County SAVES program director Holly Renz said the drug isn’t hurtful if a patient is given it without overdosing on opioids first, making it safe.
Renz said the first thing emergency room staff do when a patient is unconscious is to check the patient’s blood sugar and then the patient, who is showing any symptoms that could point to an overdose, receives Narcan.
“In the ER, we use it as a diagnostic tool,” she said. “In the field, we’re going to use it to save lives.”
Officers carrying this drug will save time that could make the difference of saving a victim.
Renz said drug addicts aren’t the only one who could benefit from Narcan. It is somewhat common for elderly people to accidentally overdose on their own prescription medication. Children can overdose after getting into their parents’ prescription medications as well.
Administration is simple, Renz said. Officers will just have to screw a nasal atomizer into the victim’s nose.
Renz said the nasal atomizer is safer than trying to administer the Narcan with a syringe.
“It works as effectively if not quicker (than a syringe) because the inside of the nose is very vascular,” she said. “It is absorbed into the blood stream very quickly.”
The hospital will begin training with the police departments soon. Training will entail a slideshow presentation with a question-and-answer session and hands-on exercises.
Mellinger said he is confident that with the training, his officers will be able to save lives.
“I have quite a bit of optimism that if anyone is faced with situation like this and we have the Narcan available to us, we will be able to save a life that can hopefully be turned around (from drug addiction, if that is the case),” he said.
After their training, officers will be given the Narcan. However, the roughly 250 patrol officers in the community aren’t expected to be finished with training and armed with Narcan until around January.
This isn’t the first initiative Madison County SAVES has done for local enforcement.
In 2002, the Community Hospital Anderson group donated about 80 automated external defibrillators to law enforcement and other places in the community. AEDs are commonly used when someone is in cardiac arrest.
Community Hospital Anderson hopes this will offer life-saving treatment as well and quickly as AEDs do for cardiac arrest victims.