Driving an Ambulance in the Age of Narcan
September 7th, 2019Some days everyone is just dying and coming back left and right like junkie whack-a-mole.
Via: Hazlitt:
It’s pretty common in my city to have a dose of Narcan drawn up and rubber banded onto the rearview mirror of the ambulance. We keep the rest of our gear all the way in the back of the rig and we run so many overdoses that it’s just easier to have the Narcan ready to go. We’re lazy that way, I guess.
You remember Epi-pens? You probably knew a kid in your elementary school who had to keep one in his backpack in case he was attacked by a peanut. They make those for Narcan now, and they give them out at clinics and the needle exchange. It’s a little plastic device which contains a single dose, quick-release Narcan shot and can be given with little or no training. They’re all over the street.
“We gave him Narcan already!” a homeless man shouts as we pull up. “I gave him two of the thingies, the ones they gave us!”
Police carry them, social workers, other drug users. Often a patient will get far more than the recommended dose before we arrive, and we will step carefully through a pile of used heroin needles and Narcan packaging on our way to the patient. I’ve Narcan’d the same guy twice in a shift. Some days everyone is just dying and coming back left and right like junkie whack-a-mole.
Great piece of writing. Thanks for finding it, Kevin.