PORT ANGELES — The Port Angeles Police Department has saved 10 lives since it began to administer a heroin overdose antidote, including two in the past week, interim Chief of Police Brian Smith said.
Sgt. Josh Powless gave two doses of naloxone to a suspected heroin user who was found unconscious in an alley behind a residence on the 900 block of West Sixth Street on Tuesday.
The 25-year-old man had shallow and sporadic breathing when Powless responded to a report of a heroin overdose at about 9 p.m., police said.
By the time paramedics were able to assume care, the man had regained consciousness and was breathing on his own, Smith said in a Thursday news release.
The man was subsequently arrested for investigation of unrelated charges, police said.
The agency’s 10th naloxone save occurred at around noon Thursday when police and fire department units responded to a report of a possible overdose at a residence on the 4000 block of South Fairmount Avenue.
Officer Whitney Fairbanks arrived to find an unresponsive man receiving ineffective CPR from bystanders, Smith said. The 61-year-old was not breathing.
Fairbanks administered one dose of naloxone and began CPR.
The man regained consciousness and began to breathe on his own, police said.
Port Angeles Fire Department paramedics administered advanced life support. The man was treated at Olympic Medical Center.
Blocks effects of heroin
Naloxone is an opioid antagonist that temporarily blocks the effects of heroin or opioid-based prescription pills like oxycodone.
It can prevent overdoses from becoming fatal by reversing the depression of the central nervous system and respiratory system, allowing the patient to breathe long enough for medical help to arrive.
City police, who are often the first to arrive to overdose calls, received 64 naloxone auto injectors last March through a grant from Kaléo.
Port Angeles police received a new supply of naloxone after the first batch expired, Smith said last month.
Meanwhile, at least 15 lives have been saved from opioid overdose since Clallam County Public Health began offering naloxone through its syringe exchange program last July, public health officials have said.
U.S. Rep. Derek Kilmer, whose 6th Congressional District includes the North Olympic Peninsula, has called on the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to expand grants and programs that make naloxone more available in rural areas like the North Olympic Peninsula.
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Reporter Rob Ollikainen can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 56450, or at rollikainen@peninsuladailynews.com.
