fbpx
  • Subscribe & Support
  • Sign up for Free Newsletter
  • Print Edition
    • Get Home Delivery
    • Read ePaper Online
    • Newsstand Locations
  • HV1 Magazines
  • Contact
    • Advertise
    • Customer Support
    • Submit A News Tip
    • Where’s My Paper?
  • Manage HV1 Account
  • Free HV1 Trial
  • Holiday Gift Subscription
Hudson Valley One
  • News
    • Schools
    • Business
    • Sports
    • Crime
    • Politics & Government
  • What’s Happening
    • Calendar Of Events
    • Featured Events
      • Art
      • Books
      • Kids
      • Lifestyle & Wellness
      • Food & Drink
      • Music
      • Nature
      • Stage & Screen
  • Opinions
    • Letters
    • Columns
    • Editorials
  • Local
    • Special Sections
    • Local History
  • Marketplace
    • All Classified Ads
    • Help Wanted
    • Post a Classified Ad
  • Obituaries
  • Podcast
  • Log In
No Result
View All Result
  • News
    • Schools
    • Business
    • Sports
    • Crime
    • Politics & Government
  • What’s Happening
    • Calendar Of Events
    • Featured Events
      • Art
      • Books
      • Kids
      • Lifestyle & Wellness
      • Food & Drink
      • Music
      • Nature
      • Stage & Screen
  • Opinions
    • Letters
    • Columns
    • Editorials
  • Local
    • Special Sections
    • Local History
  • Marketplace
    • All Classified Ads
    • Help Wanted
    • Post a Classified Ad
  • Obituaries
  • Podcast
  • Log In
No Result
View All Result
Hudson Valley One
No Result
View All Result

With heroin use rising, area cops now packing overdose kit

by Jesse J. Smith
March 25, 2017
in Community
0
Mobile Life’s Steve Helsley demonstrates how Narcan is administered (photo by Phyllis McCabe)
Mobile Life’s Steve Helsley demonstrates how Narcan is administered (photo by Phyllis McCabe)

It’s a situation that plays out almost daily in Ulster County — a 911 call reports an unconscious subject. Cops or firefighters arrive to find a person, usually young, barely breathing. Used syringes or empty glassine baggies at the scene may tip off first responders that they’re dealing with an opiate overdose. Other times, the classic sign of opiate intoxication — pinprick pupils — give it away. It’s a situation where minutes make the difference between life and death. Now, in response to near-epidemic levels abuse of heroin and prescription opiates, local first responders are adding a new element to their work gear: safe, easy-to-use doses of Naloxone, a drug that can instantly reverse an opiate overdose if administered in time.

Naoloxone — sold under the brand name Narcan — has been around since the 1960s. An opiate antagonist, Narcan bonds to opioid receptors in the brain and induces instantaneous withdrawal in as little as 45 seconds. The drug quickly counteracts opiates’ depression of central nervous system function, including breathing, which causes death. The drug is generally considered safe with few side effects. If administered to someone who doesn’t have opiates in their system, Narcan has no effect at all.

As a paramedic working in Newburgh and Rockland County in the 1980s, Saugerties Police Chief Joseph Sinagra estimates he administered Naloxone hundreds of times, often with lifesaving results.

“You’d have someone unconscious, unresponsive, you think you’re going to have to [intubate] them,” said Sinagra. “Then you hit them with the Narcan and they pop right out of it.”

Intravenously administered Narcan has long been standard issue for paramedics and other emergency medical workers. Now, there’s a statewide effort to get an easy to administer newer nasal-mist formulation of the drug into the hands of police officers, firefighters and other first responders who aren’t necessarily trained in advanced life-saving measures. In December 2013, the state’s Emergency Medical Advisory Committee approved a new policy that opened the door to handing out internasal Narcan doses to emergency workers trained in basic life support. The state also started a fund to reimburse local agencies for the costs of the drug and related training.

The move comes as overdoses from opiate abuse are soaring around the country, fueled by the popularity of prescription narcotics like oxycodone and, increasingly, heroin. A report issued last year by the state Office of Alcoholism and Substance Abuse Services estimated that an accidental overdose stemming from opiate intoxication occurs once every 19 minutes. Locally, a batch of heroin laced with the powerful synthetic opioid fentanyl was linked to 68 non-fatal overdoses in the City of Poughkeepsie alone in November and December last year.

Scott Woebse, president and CEO of local first responders Mobile Life Ambulance, said his crews were seeing an increase in heroin overdoses in communities around the Hudson Valley. “It’s not just something we see in the urban areas,” said Woebse. “It’s in the suburbs, its out in the country, it’s all over really.”

In Kingston, city firefighters stocked their emergency vehicles with Narcan for the first time on April 7. By April 15, they’d used the internasal kits twice. In both cases, the patients survived. In Saugerties, Sinagra said that he plans to begin issuing Narcan kits to patrol officers as soon as they undergo training. He pointed to two cases this year where town cops were the first on the scene at an overdose and could have used the kits to revive patients before EMS workers arrived.

“We’re in an area where we have limited ambulance resources,” said Sinagra.  “If they’re tied up, you could end up waiting and a couple of minutes can really make a difference.”

Tags: heroin
Join the family! Grab a free month of HV1 from the folks who have brought you substantive local news since 1972. We made it 50 years thanks to support from readers like you. Help us keep real journalism alive.
- Geddy Sveikauskas, Publisher
Previous Post

Saugerties police get license plate readers

Next Post

Marena Mitchell: De-cluttering for the future

Jesse J. Smith

Related Posts

The equinox and the Harvest Moon
Community

Saugerties Snow Moon parade postponed until Sunday due to weather

February 4, 2023
Visit Kingston’s 12,240-square-foot squat, centrally located with wood-burning fireplace
Community

Visit Kingston’s 12,240-square-foot squat, centrally located with wood-burning fireplace

February 3, 2023
Saugerties to host inaugural Snow Moon Festival February 3 to 5
Community

Saugerties to host inaugural Snow Moon Festival February 3 to 5

February 2, 2023
Not-So-Sweet Fundraiser returns to Saugerties Animal Shelter
Community

Not-So-Sweet Fundraiser returns to Saugerties Animal Shelter

February 1, 2023
Neighbors protest Ulster County Veterans’ Cemetery flagpole spotlights
Community

Neighbors protest Ulster County Veterans’ Cemetery flagpole spotlights

February 1, 2023
Year three of Black History Month Kingston continues crucial conversation
Community

Black History Month Kingston: Art, music, culture, and empowerment take center stage

February 3, 2023
Next Post

Marena Mitchell: De-cluttering for the future

Trending News

  • One-man crime spree comes to end after Kingston man runs out of luck 3.7k views
  • Saugerties to host inaugural Snow Moon Festival February 3 to 5 2k views
  • Visit Kingston’s 12,240-square-foot squat, centrally located with wood-burning fireplace 1.7k views
  • The Bruynswyck Inn Oyster & Clam Bar offers fresh seafood and Shawangunk views 1.6k views
  • 20-foot, 10-wheel big rig overturns in Saugerties, injuring driver 1.2k views
  • Neighbors protest Ulster County Veterans’ Cemetery flagpole spotlights 751 views

Weather

Kingston
◉
36°
Mostly Cloudy
7:02 am5:17 pm EST
Feels like: 36°F
Wind: 2mph SSE
Humidity: 65%
Pressure: 29.98"Hg
UV index: 0
TueWedThu
43/32°F
46/27°F
39/37°F
Weather forecast Kingston, New York ▸

Subscribe

Independent. Local. Substantive. Subscribe now.

  • Subscribe & Support
  • Sign up for Free Newsletter
  • Print Edition
  • HV1 Magazines
  • Contact
  • Manage HV1 Account
  • Free HV1 Trial
  • Holiday Gift Subscription

© 2022 Ulster Publishing

No Result
View All Result
  • News
    • Schools
    • Business
    • Sports
    • Crime
    • Politics & Government
  • What’s Happening
    • Calendar Of Events
    • Featured Events
      • Art
      • Books
      • Kids
      • Lifestyle & Wellness
      • Food & Drink
      • Music
      • Nature
      • Stage & Screen
  • Opinions
    • Letters
    • Columns
    • Editorials
  • Local
    • Special Sections
    • Local History
  • Marketplace
    • All Classified Ads
    • Help Wanted
    • Post a Classified Ad
  • Obituaries
  • Podcast
  • Subscribe & Support
  • Contact Us
    • Customer Support
    • Advertise
    • Submit A News Tip
  • Print Edition
    • Read ePaper Online
    • Newsstand Locations
    • Where’s My Paper
  • HV1 Magazines
  • Manage HV1 Account
  • Log In
  • Free HV1 Trial

© 2022 Ulster Publishing