N.Y. Town`s EMS Credits Narcan for Saving Man`s Life

Aug. 23--Oneonta emergency medical services crews responded to drug overdoses involving two men Sunday night, the Oneonta Fire Department chief said, and one man's life was saved with the administration of the opioid antidote Narcan.

Two ambulances each with three crew members responded to a home in the East End after a woman who stopped by the home reported the emergency at about 5:30 p.m. Sunday, said OFD Chief Patrick Pidgeon.

One man was responsive and didn't need Narcan, Pidgeon said.

"The other guy was basically dead on the kitchen floor," Pidgeon said. That man had a pulse but wasn't breathing, Pidgeon said. Crews administered Narcan, which reversed the effects of the opiods and used a bag-valve mask to breathe for him for eight to 10 minutes, the chief said.

Both men refused further treatment and rejected advice to go to the hospital because of possible drug impacts, Pidgeon said. The men reported using what they thought was heroin, but the drugs could have been mixed with other substances, the chief said. Crews also explained that Narcan is an opioid antidote that doesn't work on other types of drugs and that the antidote can wear off, Pidgeon said.

Heroin use has been a growing public health issue across the area. This summer, authorities reported an overdose death of a 26-year-old Richmondville man.

In 2014, the most recent year for which federal data were available, New York recorded 825 deaths in which heroin was a factor, a figure that represented a 23 percent surge from the previous year.

The Oneonta Fire Department responds to three or four overdose cases a month but two in one call is unusual, according to Pidgeon, who withheld the men's identities citing federal privacy laws.

The OFD had to call in another crew Sunday night for coverage, Pidgeon said, and one of the crews answering the overdose call left the scene to respond directly to another medical emergency.

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