pnj.com- Opioid addiction: How EMS are adapting to frequent overdoses

7/5/2018

Opioid overdose patients on the brink of death are often requiring multiple doses of a life-saving treatment as addictions grow to staggering levels — and first responders in Escambia and Santa Rosa counties are bearing the brunt of the epidemic.

EMTs and paramedics have become an unofficial first port-of-call for help, many users in the throes of their addiction who are either unwilling or unable to seek the costly help they need.

In the first six months of 2018, Escambia County EMS has responded to 176 opioid-related overdoses — almost one per day — and deployed the resuscitation drug, naloxone, 286 times.

While overdose numbers are increasing, more concerning is the deep state of drug use in which those patients are found, and the drugs themselves that are evolving from an already-deadly epidemic, said EMS Chief Steve White.

Opioids are a class of drug that includes oxycodone, hydrocodone, codeine, morphine, Fentanyl and heroin. They work by acting on opioid receptors in the body to produce pain-relieving effects.

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