On May 28th, Winkler police were called to an apartment for a reason unrelated to a medical emergency. While inside, they found a man who was “not doing so well,” Police Chief Ryan Hunt said.
The man was breathing slowly and appeared to have taken fentanyl. One person on the scene said that it was likely the case.
Police administered Narcan, a medication that reverses opioid overdoses, and the man began to improve. Paramedics arrived and took him to the hospital for further evaluation.
“Our officers carry Narcan, which they deployed,” Hunt said. “They used that in the male here. That was in distress, and the male began to show improvements, and paramedics transported him to the hospital for further evaluation. He’s OK now.”
The Narcan carried by officers is a single-use device that doesn’t require a needle.
“The one that we carry, it’s in a little white container,” Hunt explained. “It just goes into the patient’s nose, shoots a medication into there so that their Airways start to open up again.”
Similar Narcan kits are available for civilians in many urban areas.
“And it will probably be the same product,” Hunt said. “Officers carry those with them all the time.”