Having naloxone handy makes everyone a first responder.
“I was in a Walmart parking lot and saw someone overdosing in their car,” said Matt Bell, 37, of Toledo. “It was just one guy in his car, and he was slumped over his steering wheel and just kind of blue in the face. As I walked by, I kind of peered in, and did a double take.”
“I stepped back, looked in the car, and then I started to see the paraphernalia and realized ‘OK, this is an overdose.’ It was traumatic,” he said. “Thank God I had Narcan on me and just jumped right into administration mode.”
A new study found that use of naloxone, commonly referred to by the brand name Narcan, by nonmedical bystanders to treat an opioid drug overdose has increased.
“I was able to administer that to the person and call 911 simultaneously, and the person lived through that experience,” Bell said.
During an overdose, a person’s breathing can be dangerously slowed or stopped, leading to brain damage or death. Naloxone reverses the overdose by blocking the effects of opioids on the brain.
“Reflecting on it afterwards, I would not have been able to live with myself if I didn’t have that Narcan, knowing that I could have had access to it, knowing that it’s available, and knowing that I could have saved a life,” he said.
As of Aug. 30, 1,524 overdose deaths this year have been recorded in the Ohio Department of Health’s mortality data. At that same time last year, 2,261 accidental overdose deaths had been confirmed and recorded, marking a decline of 737 deaths, or 32.6 percent, Harm Reduction Ohio reported.
“Thank God, deaths are decreasing a little bit, but it’s because Narcan is out there,” Bell said.
Nationally, the increase of 43.5 percent use of naloxone by people without medical training serves as evidence that public training and awareness is working; however, experts said the increase is still not enough.
Research was conducted by the Ohio State University college of medicine and college of public health and the National Registry of Emergency Medical Technicians and reported in medical journal JAMA Network Open.
The study evaluated data from the National Emergency Medical Services Information System revealing that from June, 2020, to June, 2022, there were more than 96 million EMS activations from nearly 14,000 agencies across 54 states and U.S. territories. The data reported 744,078 patients received naloxone, with 24,990 getting it from an untrained bystander before EMS arrived.
Bell said he also knows firsthand what it’s like to receive Narcan — three times. His last overdose on fentanyl landed him in an intensive care unit at ProMedica Toledo Hospital.
“I woke up four or five days later. I was intubated, my lungs had shut down, and machines were breathing for me,” he said. “My family had come up to say goodbyes. Doctors were telling them that I had lost oxygen to my brain, and that I wasn’t going to make it and I was medically digressing.”
“Thank God I woke up, but it would not have happened if it weren't for Narcan,” he said.
His personal experience drives his passion to help others walking in shoes he once walked. After 13 arrests, multiple felonies, and a total of 28 treatment center stays, Bell recently celebrated nine years of sobriety.
“The training and education on it is so simple,” said Bell, who is now the founder of Team Recovery Ohio Inc., which has 14 locations around Toledo that provide addiction treatment and recovery housing.
“That one dose of Narcan that saved my life is now allowing 250 people to stay sober for one more day, and that’s 250 people that aren’t committing crime today in our city, that aren’t tormenting their moms, dads, brothers, sisters, husbands, and wives today,” he said. “That’s thousands of people that get to sleep peacefully tonight because I was able to get Narcan 12 years ago.”
The Toledo Lucas County Health Department reported that in 2023, its Overdose Prevention Team performed 166 detailed community trainings and 105 street outreach events and recorded 665 successful overdose reversals.
Project DAWN, which stands for Deaths Avoided with Naloxone, provides opioid overdose education and harm reduction services coordinated by the Ohio Department of Health.
The health department is one of two Project DAWN sites in Lucas County, partnering with ProMedica to distribute naloxone through various channels, including a mail-order program and a “leave it behind” program with local fire departments, said Mahjida Berryman, supervisor of injury prevention.
“We have over 25 community partners, which are agencies, businesses, or treatment centers that want to get naloxone out to the community,” Ms. Berryman said.
The department’s mobile clinic dispenses free naloxone kits and provides training on the spot.
“Narcan is one strategy, and it's a very important strategy,” said Scott Sylak, executive director of the Mental Health and Recovery Services Board of Lucas County. “It’s something that our community members can do and deploy, and it's simple to use. It’s an important tool to keep people alive.”
“Of course, all of this is designed to support individuals who are substance-use dependent with a hope of developing a relationship that leads to treatment,” Mr. Sylak said. “We want to keep people alive long enough for them to engage in treatment services, to come to the realization that they need help, and then make sure help is available when they need it.”
While no one wants to be in a position to have to use naloxone, having it on hand could be the difference between life and death.
“The majority of my patients have used Narcan several times,” said Jerilyn Neeper, a nurse practitioner specializing in substance use disorder services at OhioGuidestone in Findlay.
“I always tell people it’s good to carry in your car, and it’s good to have at home. The directions are on the box and it’s very similar to administering an allergy nasal spray,” Ms. Neeper said. “The nice thing about Narcan is that if a person is unresponsive and it’s not from an overdose, the Narcan is not going to work; it’s not going to do anything.”
Bystanders who may be nervous or hesitant to administer Narcan are advised to reach out to trained medical professionals.
“Call 911,” said Victoria Graham, regional director of operations at OhioGuidestone. “They will talk to you on the phone while you’re working through Narcan the same way that they would with CPR.”
“So you don't have to be alone. You can have somebody there with you that's saying ‘medical professionals are on their way,’ and help talk you through the process, because I think that’s the fear,” Ms. Graham said. “It’s really reassuring to have somebody else to say, ‘It’s OK.’”
First Published October 25, 2024, 2:51 p.m.
