Deputy saves overdose victim with anti-opioid spray

MOSES LAKE — Less than a week after being trained on how to use the overdose-reversing drug, a Grant County Sheriff’s Office deputy used Naloxone to save an overdose victim in Moses Lake on Thursday.

About 2 p.m. MACC Dispatch received a report of a possible overdose in the 9000 block of Bong Loop Northeast. A deputy arrived at the scene first and contacted a man in his 40s who was reportedly unconscious and breathing dangerously slowly, according to the sheriff’s office.

The deputy determined the man had overdosed and gave him a dose of Naloxone, which caused the man’s condition to improve within about a minute. The man was able to breath normally after the dose and woke up. Paramedics gave the man a second dose of Naloxone when they arrived and his condition greatly improved.

Deputies were trained in the use of Naloxone and issued kits that contain the drug just last week. Naloxone is used to reverse the effects of opioid overdoses from heroin, morphine, hydrocodone, oxycodone and fentanyl.

“There’s little doubt the outcome may have been much worse had the deputy not had Naloxone available,” Sheriff Tom Jones said. “Having Naloxone in the hands of trained deputies has already proven to be a life-saving tool.”

Richard Byrd can be reached via email at city@columbiabasinherald.com.