CAF Trainee Reverses Overdose
In early February of this year, The Chris Atwood Foundation conducted an overdose reversal class at the Winchester Sheriff's Office for about 50 officers from the area. They had been awarded a grant for 200 doses of the overdose reversal medication from Kaleo Pharmacy and needed the proper training for how to use it.
We are so thrilled to learn that last week, several of those officers were able to work together and put their training to use to save a young man's life. He was 21 years old, just like Christopher was at the time of his death. Sincerest thanks to the Frederick County Sheriff's Office and to our donors for making this life-saving work possible!
To make a donation to help us continue this program please click here.
The story below ran in the Winchester Star.
(above: Ginny Lovitt shows deputies how to
assemble an intra-nasal Narcan device)
Deputies save man from drug overdose
Posted: March 26, 2016
By JOSH JANNEY
The Winchester Star
KERNSTOWN — The Frederick County Sheriff’s Office was able to save a 21-year-old man from a heroin overdose Thursday night, through the use of naloxone — a lifesaving prescription medication that reverses the effects of an opioid overdose.
A little after 9 p.m. that night, sheriffs received a call from someone who discovered the man incapacitated near the Echo Village Budget Motel at 3632 Valley Pike.
Three units were nearby, according to Sheriff Lenny Millholland, and swiftly responded. They injected the man with naloxone, which temporarily alleviates overdose symptoms and induces a withdrawal for 30 to 45 minutes.
The deputies started CPR until rescue squads arrived to administer more naloxone before transporting the man to the Winchester Medical Center.
The Sheriff’s Office received a grant on Feb. 4 from Kaleo, a pharmaceutical company, to get 200 double doses of Evzio, a brand of naloxone that is an injection and small enough to fit in a pocket or purse. This is the first time deputies have used the medication.
“It was everybody’s belief that without [naloxone], it could have been a tragic event,” Millholland said Friday afternoon. “The naloxone is probably why the 21-year-old is still alive today.”
Millholland declined to give the man’s name, but said he is still at the hospital.
“My personal feeling about the whole thing is these people are addicts and you’ve got to do what you can to help them,” Millholland said. “We’ll see what we can do to assist, but like everything else it starts with the individual.”
— Contact Josh Janney at jjanney@winchesterstar.com
