BUTTE – Quick shots of Naloxone up the nose of a Butte woman in the throes of an opioid overdose last week helped Butte firefighters save the victim’s life.
“Administered the medication that increased their breathing rate, we gave another dose and they started becoming alert and oriented and able to talk by the time they were done with that,” said Butte firefighter Kahl Clark, who trained police and firefighters on the new device.
This proved so effective, now all firefighters, and soon all Butte police, will carry these Narcan injectors.
“It’s kind of foolproof in a way. If the person is not under an opioid overdose and down from some other reason, this will not harm them,” said Butte Undersheriff George Skuletich.
Every firefighter and officer in the department was trained to use it, it’s really simple actually, you just plug one nostril, stick the device in the other, push the button and just like that you could potentially save somebody from an overdose.
“It’s just a lot more easy to administer now and it’s a lot easier for people and less training is required now,” said Clark.
Opioid addiction is on the rise everywhere in the country and first responders now have another tool in the event of overdose.
“I’m hoping we don’t have as bad an epidemic as other places in the country, but we are prepared if that does happen that we have the antidote for that,” said Clark.
A quick shot between life and death.
