First responders suggest everyone carry Narcan after toddler swallows drugs
By: Chloe Leshner
cleshner@abc6.com
@ChloeLeshner
NEW BEDFORD, Mass. (WLNE) — A New Bedford toddler who’s life was saved by Narcan is still recovering after getting into his mother’s drugs. Narcan saves hundreds of people every year. First responders and doctors are now saying everyone should carry the life saving drug.
That toddler swallowed heroin cut with fentynal. That drug is so strong first responders say they’re using higher doses of Narcan to combat it.
A New Bedford boy who is not even 2 years old has been saved by Narcan. 30–year–old Saranah Raposa’s son swallowed her fentanyl laced heroin.
"The fact that it happened with an opiate is because there’s opiates in the house. The fact that it happened with a fentynal contaminated opiate is really a reflection of the epidemic that we have now," says Dr. Jody Rich with the Miriam Hospital.
The toddler was on a Narcan drip for several days but is expected to be okay. First responders say the Narcan you can get at your pharmacy can be used on anyone, even a child.
"We have administered narcan to some children, there’s really no big side effect so it doesn’t hurt to give it but it’s really becoming scarier and scarier with fentanyl everywhere," says Chief Zachariah Kenyon with Providence EMS.
They’re now suggesting that everyone carry Narcan.
Raposa will have another day in court but Dr. Rich, with the Miriam Hospital’s Center for Prisoner Health and Human Rights says locking addicts up won’t help with the epidemic.
"As a society we should look to see how can we make the most effective treatments that we have more widely available. If that had happened this tragedy might have been avoided," says Rich.
Raposa was in treatment but a friend of hers told ABC 6 she must have relapsed.
Dr. Rich says anyone can get Narcan at a pharmacy and most insurance companies will cover it.
(C) WLNE/ABC 6 2018
