Spokane First Responders are more likely to give Narcan

Doug Nadvornick from SPR reports.

Paramedics in Spokane County are more likely to reach for Narcan to resuscitate people suffering from opioid overdose. Narcan is the brand name for naloxone. It is often used to bring opioid users back from the brink of death.

The Spokane Fire Department has tracked the number of first responders used the drug this year.

Dan Barth, who represents Spokane County’s Covid Behavioral Health Task Force, says the new numbers paint a bleak picture of opioid use.

“If you go in February 2021 and earlier, the county has averaged 0.75 doses of Narcan / Naloxone per day. March strikes and we’ve stayed there, since March we’ve averaged 1.5 per day, one 100% increase, which is very significant, ”he said.

There are several reasons for the increase, says Barth. People used more drugs during the pandemic. And some are taking pills that have vastly different levels of fentanyl.

“It’s a dangerous game because you can have one pill that has enough to calm an elephant and then another that barely has,” he said.

With Fentanyl, it will take more narcan to get the job done, says Samantha Carroll, an overdose prevention specialist for the Spokane Regional Health District. “I’ve heard stories of people taking four or five doses of naloxone to revive someone.”

Some consider naloxone a wonder drug, but its effects are limited, says Misty Challinor, director of treatment services for the health district.

“Many people have taken naloxone believing they were out of the woods per se, with concerns if the effects of the opioids they were taking could indeed come back on them and affect them, and they could overdose again in 30 minutes . So it’s really important that even after you get your first naloxone, you see a doctor, “she said.

Dan Barth says fire department numbers show the number of opioid-related overdoses and the number of deaths from those overdoses have increased since March.