News

Colo. Police Officers Fighting Overdoses with Narcan

Mitchell Byars

04/30/2017

April 29--In the afternoon of Oct. 23, Boulder police Officer Keegan Carrick was dispatched to the scene of a potential opioid overdose. Carrick had been with the department for less than a year and this was his first overdose call, but he never panicked.

"Instantly going in, I knew Narcan could save this individual," said Carrick, referring to a trade name for naloxone, a drug used to reverse the effects of opiate overdoses.

Carrick arrived on scene and found one officer already performing CPR on the unresponsive man. Carrick quickly administered the Narcan and watched it go to work.

"He just sits up, unaware of what happened, thinking he is fine," Carrick said. "He was so close to not making it, and I was able to save a life. And he was able to get the help he needed."

Stories such as Carrick's are one of the reasons more and more agencies around the state are equipping their officers with Narcan, as Boulder officers have saved nine people with Narcan since officers began carrying it in the summer of 2015. Delete

"Officers are changing outcomes," said Boulder police Cmdr. Tom Trujillo. "We are saving people."

With the success of Boulder's program and with the help of a state grant that supplied more than 300 kits, every agency in Boulder County is now equipping their officers with Narcan, and some have already seen results. Erie has saved two people, while two people have also been saved at the Boulder County Jail.

"We saw the success that other agencies have had with it on the street," said Boulder County Sheriff Joe Pelle. "This gives our folks a chance to do something positive."

Every second counts

When Boulder police first started issuing the kits in the summer of 2015, they were one of the first agencies in Colorado to do so, and at first the kits were only given to officers who were willing to carry and use it. But the department now trains all new recruits to use Narcan.

Carrick is one of the new recruits who learned how to use Narcan from his time in the academy, which he said gives him a level of comfort and knowledge with the kits.

"You're never overwhelmed; you just know what needs to be done," Carrick said. "It's pretty easy to use."

The kits officers carry today work like a nasal inhaler, and the ease of use was one of the things that made it appealing to police departments. Naloxone also does not have any effect on a person who is not suffering an opioid overdose and is safe for kids.

"There is no risk for the officers," said Boulder police Sgt. Alastair McNiven, who was one of the liaisons between the department and the health department and helped to get the program started. "You can't make the situation worse."

While paramedics already carry naloxone and administer it in stronger doses, McNiven said officers are often the first ones on the scene of an overdose. For many, wanting to help instead of waiting for an ambulance was one of the motivations to begin carrying Narcan.

"It was being on a scene with an overdose victim, watching the seconds tick by and realizing they could have intervened," McNiven said.

For Boulder County sheriff's deputies patrolling the foothills, that wait time between the first deputy responding and an ambulance arriving on scene can be even longer. That's another one of the reasons Pelle said his deputies now carry Narcan.

"The response times to our scene by ambulances are often lengthy due to the geography," Pelle said. "Ambulances are sometimes 30 minutes away from our patient. We have all the forest service camping areas, and that's a long way for an ambulance to go."

But carrying Narcan isn't just about officers protecting the public. Police said they are starting to see synthetic opioids such as carfentanil and fentanyl while responding to scenes. If it is inhaled or accidentally touches an officers' skin, it can have life-threatening effects.

"One of the reasons that we shifted and trained our officers is because of the increased risk and danger to our officers in handling fentanyl, which is extremely dangerous," said Longmont Deputy Chief Jeff Satur.

The increased use of Narcan is also a response to what officials are saying is a statewide increase in heroin overdose deaths. A report issued by a state working group showed heroin-related deaths among Colorado residents doubled between 2011 and 2015.

Pelle said he knows curbing heroin overdoses is a challenge, but he said police can at least save a few lives.

"It's not going to help the problem; that's a bigger societal issue," Pelle said. "But we just want to be in a position to try to save lives."

'It's hard to turn your life around if you're dead'

Ann Noonan, program director for substance abuse and mental health integration at Mental Health Partners, also said the county is trying to get more and more citizens to equip themselves with Narcan -- which is now available over the counter in some stores -- and disputes the notion some have expressed that officers carrying Narcan makes the problem worse.

"Some people have the attitude that if addicts have Narcan around, they are going to use more and be careless about how they use because they think, 'Oh there's Narcan; I won't die,'" Noonan said. "But the attitude you need to have is that you are keeping them alive to get them sober another day."

It's something McNiven said he encourages officers to remember, especially when they are dealing with known addicts.

"While you may have been called out for the same person, that doesn't mean that person won't recover."

Or, as Trujillo added: "It's hard to turn your life around if you're dead."

One of the challenges with getting more departments and officers to use Narcan was overcoming some of the stereotypes associated with heroin overdoses.

"Everybody has a picture in their mind of a heroin user as some junkie in the alleyway with a needle in his arm," Trujillo said. "But what the officers are getting to know is that it affects young kids, high school kids, university kids."

McNiven also pointed out that not all opiate overdoses are heroin-related.

"It could be a 5-year-old who accidentally swallowed their father's legitimate oxycodone prescription, or a postal worker who inadvertently comes into contact with a fentanyl package," McNiven said. "People don't commonly think about those situations."

Jamie Feld, an epidemiologist with Boulder County Public Health, said one of the reasons the program has been successful in Boulder County is because officers have been willing to get over those stereotypes.

"We're fortunate to have law enforcement locally that are trying to address this issue one person and a time and looking at the needs of each individual," Feld said. "Addressing the stigma is definitely a part of our mission. We feel strongly that all individuals deserve a right to live a healthy and disease-free life. Our police officers have been very easy to get to the table, and I'm not sure that is the same statewide."

Trujillo said thinks more departments will follow suit, but doesn't know if it will ever become a standard tool for officers.

"The kids themselves are expensive, so you've got to be a progressive department that sees there is an issue in your area," Trujillo said. "Other departments have to make their own decisions. But this works for us."

After bringing back someone from the brink of death, Carrick needs no convincing.

"There's a huge benefit," he said. "There are just so many lives that can be saved."

Mitchell Byars: 303-473-1329, byarsm@dailycamera.com or twitter.com/mitchellbyars