Quick thinking by a Habersham County Deputy this morning is being credited with helping to save a man’s life.
Habersham County Sheriff’s Public Information Officer Lt. Floyd Canup says Deputy Stephanie Bennett responded to a report of an overdose on the north end of the county around 3:44 a.m. New Year’s Eve. She was first to arrive on the scene and found the man unresponsive “with a pulse, blue lips and pin-point pupils.”
Bystanders told officers they believed the man OD’d on heroin.
“Deputy Bennett administered a full dose of Naloxone atomized into the subject’s nose,” Canup says. “EMS arrived and administered an additional half dose.” He says the 30-year old man then became alert and was transported to Habersham Medical Center where he admitted taking heroine and methadone. He’s now listed in stable condition.
New program provides law enforcement with life-saving training and drugs
Lt. Canup says the training and drug Bennett used to revive the man were provided through a grant from Project DAN (Deaths Avoided by Naloxone). The project was launched this fall in thirteen counties across northeast Georgia in response to the alarming rise in opioid drug overdoses nationwide. (Opioids include prescription painkillers such as hydrocodone, oxycodone and codeine and illicit drugs such as heroin.) The program provides free naloxone kits to law enforcement and trains officers on how to use them.
READ: Drug Overdose Deaths Reach All Time High
Naloxone (also referred to as Narcan) has been used by medical professionals for years. Under Georgia’s 9-1-1 Medical Amnesty Law it is now legal for doctors in Georgia to prescribe the drug to people who are at risk of opiod overdoses and those in positions to help them. Since law enforcement is usually first on the scene, officers can administer the drug faster and, hopefully, help save more lives.
Canup says every road deputy in Habersham County now carries the life-saving drug.
