Days after adopting NARCAN, Cole County deputies prevent overdose death
Cole County deputies arrived at the 5400 block of Business 50 just after 10 p.m. Tuesday, responding to a 22-year-old woman who wasn’t breathing.
The deputies had arrived before the EMS team and determined the woman was suffering from an opiate overdose, according to Cole County Sheriff John Wheeler.
A deputy on scene reached for the NARCAN noloxone nasal spray kit attached to their ankle and administered it to the woman.
The patient began breathing on her own and was taken to Capital Region Medical Center to be evaulated.
This incident came within one week of the department’s full implimentation of the life-saving tool, which began in November 2018.
“The Cole County Sheriff’s Department partnered with the Missouri Overdose Rescue Education Project (MORE), in conjunction with the Division of Health and Senior Services (DHSS), to provide Narcan to our deputies,” said Wheeler. “This was a month long process that included training, as well as, writing and implementing policy. Thank you to all of those who assisted us in this task.”
The Cole county Sheriff’s Department trained and distributed NARCAN kits to 46 patrol deputies and detectives, and Wheeler said that number should reach 60 in the coming months.
