NPD officers undergoing Narcan training

With an opioid epidemic sweeping the nation, drug overdoses continue to rise, including in Newton. Police officers and emergency medical personnel are combating drug overdoses with naloxone, commonly known as Narcan, a drug that can help stop overdoses after they’ve started.

The drug was administered in Newton 38 times in 2017, according to records released by the Newton Fire Department and EMS. Naloxone can restore a person’s breathing after it is injected or sprayed in the nostrils, quickly bringing overdose victims back from near-death.

Paramedics with the Newton Fire Department carry the drug in their ambulances, and officers with the Newton Police Department are undergoing training this month to administer the drug.

“We do use it, I don’t want to say quite often, but we do use it pretty regularly,” Newton Fire Chief Jarrod Wellik said. “We carry it on the ambulances, our guys have to be trained to know the correct dosages — all of the firefighter and EMS staffers at the station have received the training.”​

Newton Police Chief Rob Burdess said ​his officers are training this month on how to administer the drug. He said they’ve been able to rely on Newton Fire and EMS to provide the medicine up to this point.

“We haven’t seen a need to carry it for our citizens yet, but we’ll end up carrying it sooner than later,” Burdess said.

The training to carry naloxone will ensure officers are able to administer the drug in a safe manner, he said.

“It’s cops administering medicine ... nobody really signed up for that so it’s important we have proper training and understanding of its use,” Burdess said.

Burdess said Newton did experience some overdoses last year, but it’s not been a prevalent problem for his department. Skiff Medical Center and paramedics have seen larger demands for naloxone, he said.

In Newton, health care professionals who treat addiction say they’ve seen an increase in opioid-related substance abuse as well. Larry Rossow, a substance abuse counselor at House of Mercy in Newton, said staff at the treatment center has undergone training to administer naloxone. The facility has seen a steady uptick in clients battling opioid addiction, he said

“It’s increased over the last year,” Rossow said. “More than ever before — and there’s a lot of overdose deaths happening. That’s the big thing.”

Rossow said when he began working at House of Mercy nine years ago, he was the only employee of the substance abuse treatment center. Now there are seven people working at the facility.

“That should tell you something about the severity of the substance abuse problem in general,” Rossow said. “People don’t realize how bad it really is until it affects them personally — then they become more aware — otherwise it’s swept under the rug.”

According to federal data, more than 42,000 Americans suffered fatal opioid overdoses in 2016, more than double the number who died in 2010.

Jasper County Sheriff John Halferty said all deputies working in EMS are trained to administer naloxone via a nasal atomizer and he keeps a stock of the drug on hand. However, one of his sheriff’s deputies has yet to administer the overdose remedy.

“We have been present at scenes in the county where a rural EMS service or Newton Fire has had to administer it,” Halferty said. “If we see an increase in opioid overdose calls, we will likely have the naloxone more readily available. In addition, we would also train our non-EMS deputies to administer.”

The only deputies that carry it on their person, he said, are task force investigators who carry it for personal use in the event of an exposure. ​

The sheriff said one of the challenges of using naloxone is someone suffering from an overdose may require multiple doses of the drug since it is a short-term medication that allows EMS providers to get the subject to a medical facility.

“Additional training we have provided to all of our deputies is to focus on airway control and rescue breathing either via a CPR type mask or a bag valve mask,” Halferty said. “Opioids slow the respiratory system down so that the person generally stops breathing. If we can at least assist them in breathing, that is a priority. Administration of naloxone is the next step, followed by immediate transport to a medical facility for treatment.”

U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Jerome Adams on Thursday issued a national public health advisory urging more Americans to start carrying naloxone to help combat the nation’s opioid crisis and save lives. The nation’s chief doctor said naloxone will not single-handedly solve the opioid crisis and should instead be used “in conjunction with expanded access to evidence-based treatment.” The last surgeon general public health advisory was issued in 2005 and focused on prenatal alcohol exposure.

“You don’t have to be a policeman or a firefighter or a paramedic to save a life,” Adams said.

— Reporter David Dolmage and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Contact Abigail Pelzer at 641-792-3121 ext. 6530 or apelzer@newtondailynews.com