Project Naloxone credited with saving 35 lives

When a Chester County deputy sheriff heard a dispatch this past summer about a double overdose, he was a block and a half away.

Kimberly Holman (from left) joins state Sen. Andy Dinniman, Patrick O'Donnell and Ethan Healey for the plaque presentations.
Kimberly Holman (from left), president of Good Fellowship, joins state Sen. Andy Dinniman, former Good Fellowship board member Patrick O'Donnell and Ethan Healey, the Project Naloxone manager, for the plaque presentations.

David Reeves said he rushed to the scene where an ambulance crew was already administering Naloxone to one of two women who were unconscious. He grabbed a kit from his patrol car and began to treat the second victim with Naloxone, a potent antidote for reversing the effects of overdoses.

The women, both of whom recovered, were among 35 people across Chester County who received the life-saving treatment this past year, an outcome that prompted a thank-you luncheon on Tuesday, Dec. 1, at the Good Fellowship Ambulance and EMS Training Institute in West Chester.

A year ago, Good Fellowship took the lead in organizing Project Naloxone, a program designed to provide police departments and law-enforcement agencies throughout Chester County with the training and medication to reverse opioid overdoses.

The need is dire. Since 1990, drug overdoses have nearly tripled nationwide, according to the Centers for Disease Control.  More than 20 overdose deaths occurred this year in Chester County, according to law-enforcement officials, who say money is driving the transition from highly addictive painkillers to heroin. The painkiller may cost $30 a pill; however, someone can buy heroin for less than the cost of a movie ticket.

Tuesday’s luncheon, emceed by Patrick O’Donnell, a longtime Good Fellowship board member and former county commissioner, focused on expressing gratitude to the numerous partnerships that contributed to the program’s success. They include the Chester County Department of Health, the Chester County Department of Drug and Alcohol, the Chester County Police Chiefs Association, Narcotics Overdose Prevention Education (NOPE) and other community groups.

Chester County Deputy Sheriff David Reeves is one of the officers who has been able to save a life through Project Naloxone.
Chester County Deputy Sheriff David Reeves is one of the officers who has been able to save a life during the first year of Project Naloxone.

O’Donnell called the recognition well-deserved, referencing additional evidence of the crisis. He said at least 100 young people between the ages of 18 and 24 died of overdoses in the Philadelphia region this past year. He said the number of overdose deaths for Pennsylvannia was 2,400, about seven a day. Nationally, he said there are “more deaths from overdoses than from car accidents, a startling figure.”

O’Donnell joined Ethan Healey and Kimberly Holman, two of Project Naloxone’s organizers, in pointing out that the initiative could not have succeeded without assistance from lawmakers like state Sen. Andy Dinniman. In 2014, Dinniman led the effort to pass Act 139, legislation that allows police officers, emergency medical responders, firefighters and others to carry Naloxone, also known as Narcan.

Addressing the audience of more than 50, which included all three Chester County Commissioners, Dinniman said, “This is an epidemic; it affects every area of the state.” He said many people deserved credit for the success of Project Naloxone, particularly “Good Fellowship for putting this as a priority.”

Project Naloxone provides Naloxone at no cost to participating police departments for each of their units as well as training on how to administer the drug. When the officer has used the drug, Good Fellowship also bears the cost of replacing it, which is about $70 a dose. “Good Fellowship is doing that because it’s so important,” O’Donnell explained.

Dinniman praised the 37 law-enforcement agencies that are participating. He suggested that perhaps the Police Chiefs’ Association could use its powers of persuasion to get the remaining five police departments – East Whiteland, South Coatesville, Sadsbury, West Brandywine, and West Vincent – on board.

Among the participants recognized for helping Project Naloxone succeed were Tredyffrin Police Supt. Anthony Giaimo, Cathy , Jackie Spiro, Jeanne Casner, who heads the Health Department, Amy Jones from the Health Department, and , from the Department of Drugs and Alcohol.
Among the participants recognized for helping Project Naloxone succeed are Tredyffrin Police Supt. Anthony Giaimo (from left), who is also president of the Chester County Police Chiefs Association; Cathie O'Donnell and Jacki Smiro, both of whom lost a child to an overdoes; Jeanne E. Casner, who heads the Health Department, Dr. Kimberly Stone from the Health Department;  Jamie Johnson, deputy director of the Department of Drugs and Alcohol; and Kathy Collier, prevention specialist for the Department of Drugs and Alcohol.

The state senator paid special tribute to Jacki Smiro and Cathie O'Donnell, two mothers who have turned the anguish of losing a child to a drug overdose into advocacy to spare other parents from that pain. Both work with NOPE and attended the luncheon. “Things don’t change unless a group of people decide they’re going to change,” Dinniman said, applauding the mothers’ efforts.

Healey, the Project Naloxone manager, said working with the Health Department and Department of Drug and Alcohol ensures that the people who overdose aren’t forgotten once they’ve been revived. Eventually, he said Good Fellowship hopes to have kits placed in all schools.

Holman, president of Good Fellowship, said she appreciated the willingness of all of the project’s partners to combine their resources. “Each could have easily ignored the problem, believing it too big to confront or left someone else to handle it. They didn’t … Thirty-five lives have been touched by your work; that’s a very big deal,” she said before presenting each of their representatives with a plaque.

After the presentation, Reeves said he was grateful that he had been “at the right place at the right time.” He said it took about four minutes for the woman who had been unconscious to open her eyes and respond to hearing her name called after Naloxone had been sprayed into both of her nostrils.

“It’s a good feeling to know you’ve made that kind of difference,” he said, adding that Chester County Sheriff Carolyn “Bunny” Welsh actively promotes emergency training.

Reeves said his CPR skills were also called into service and resulted in a similar rescue. “This is the second time my training has kicked in,” he said. “It really paid off.”

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