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Police Officers Train to Give Overdose Antidote

JESSUP — An antidote for drug overdoses is now in the hands of police officers in Lackawanna County. Each department in the county will soon have the life...

JESSUP -- An antidote for drug overdoses is now in the hands of police officers in Lackawanna County. Each department in the county will soon have the life-saving prescription drug.

Officers started receiving training Wednesday on how to use it.

At the Lackawanna County 911 Center in Jessup, an EMT taught police officers to do something they rarely ever do, administer medication.

A recent change in state law now allows police to administer just one type of medication. It's called naloxone, or "Narcan."

Narcan works quickly to stop the effects of a drug overdose and can save someone from dying from an overdose of a drug like heroin. Lackawanna County ambulances have been stocked with the expensive antidote. It's now headed to every police department in the county.

"When the call comes in to the Comm Center, they seem to be able to react in a quicker fashion because they`re there, closer in proximity than the ambulance, " said Lackawanna County District Attorney Andy Jarbola.

Jarbola said those minutes can sometimes make all the difference. Some of the police officers being trained to use Narcan unfortunately know that, too.

Clarks Summit Police Chief Chris Yarns says he's been the first to respond to an overdose call and in the past, was helpless until an ambulance arrived.

The doses of Narcan were donated by Marworth Alcohol and Chemical Dependency Treatment Center in Waverly Township. The supply should last the county about two years. In that time, it could save hundreds of lives. Police said there's an overdose call about once a week in Lackawanna County.

"In my experience  it works in a wave, of sorts. Where we have an epidemic of it that last for a while and we are able to stomp some of it out, but then it flares up again," Chief Yarns said.

"It`s the right thing to do. There are a lot of overdose deaths in Lackawanna County over the course of a year. And if we can prevent just one overdose death, that would be terrific," said Marworth's Vice President Jim Doughtery.

The Narcan kits will be in every police department in Lackawanna County after March 1.

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