For the second time in four months, Kane County sheriff’s deputies have used Naloxone to save a person who had overdosed on heroin.

According to a Kane County Sheriff’s Office press release, deputies were dispatched to roadway in the 36W600 block of Bristol Road in unincorporated St. Charles Township at about 1:40 a.m. today (Friday, July 10, 2015) for a report of a 25-year-old female who was unconscious and not breathing. Her boyfriend was attempting to do CPR, and it was believed she had overdosed on heroin.

Sheriff’s deputies arrived on scene and began to do CPR. They also delivered a dose of Naloxone, the generic of the brand name Narcan^®,  to the woman, who was later identified as a resident of St. Charles Township.

The woman “eventually began to breathe on her own,” the press release said. She was transported to Presence St. Joseph Hospital and is expected to survive.

Sheriff’s deputies used Naloxone for the first time on Friday, April 10, to save an apparent heroin-overdose victim at a Campton Township residence.

The Narcan program was created by the Kane County Health Department to ensure that Kane County sheriff’s deputies and other area law enforcers are trained to deliver the antidote to heroin-overdose victims.

In previous presentations, Health Department Executive Director Barb Jeffers said law enforcers in almost 30 agencies carry the drug, which can reverse overdose of opioids such as heroin, hydrocodone, oxycodone and morphine. The drug can be sprayed into the nose or injected into a muscle, according to stopoverdose.org. Kane County has issued it in the form of a nasal spray.

Under the county’s Narcan program, the Health Department supplied certified training from Illinois Department of Human Services, Division of Alcohol and Substance Abuse to first responders.

Kane County Sheriff’s Office Administrator Pat Gengler said police departments throughout Kane County have been carrying the nasal spray since September but the Sheriff’s Office has had access for more than a year.

“We encourage the public, especially parents, to become educated on the dangers of opioid abuse which includes the dangers of prescription drug use and abuse as a gateway to heroin use,” Gengler said in the release.

According to a report published Tuesday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, heroin use is on the rise among women and wealthier people.

As heroin use has increased, so have heroin-related overdose deaths. Between 2002 and 2013, the rate of heroin-related overdose deaths nearly quadrupled, and more than 8,200 people died in 2013.

The Kane County Sheriff’s Office also recommends reading the Get Smart About Drugs website.

SOURCES: Kane County Sheriff’s Office press release, CDC website

Read More

• Deputy’s Naloxone Antidote Credited With Stopping Heroin Overdose in Campton Township
• Narcan Program Ready to Start Saving Lives