Dedham Fire Dept. Finds Success in Narcan Program

Through the adoption of Narcan use in town, the Dedham Fire Department said this week that it has been able to reverse five potentially-fatal heroin and opioid overdoses since April, when public safety officials began carrying the nasal treatment.

“Addiction and overdose are unfortunate realities that our firefighters encounter on a regular basis,” Acting FIre Chief William F. Spillane said in a statement. “We wish that these poisons would go away from our communities, but with a tool like Narcan, we can at least reverse their effects in the moment.”

Public safety departments have begun using Narcan, a nasal-based treatment meant to reverse the effects of an opioid-related overdose, to help fight addiction across the state for several months.

The effort sprung from a pilot program to which Norfolk DIstrict Attorney Michael Morrissey pointed last fall during a presentation to the Norfolk County Fire Chiefs Association regarding the state’s heroin and opioids addiction.

The pilot program, which was implemented in the Quincy Police Department, resulted in the successful use of Narcan 223 times between October 2010 and April 2014.

In March of this year, Spillane attended a “Train the Trainer” program conducted by Morrissey’s office; all Dedham Fire Department apparatus and command vehicles were subsequently issued Narcan on April 1. On April 4, fire officials used Narcan to reverse a drug overdose in a patient.

“I am proud that the Dedham Fire Department has embraced Narcan as a lifesaving tool,” Firefighter Steve MacDougall, President of the Dedham Firefighters Local 1735, said in a statement. “Firefighters are often the first emergency medical responders on the scene of an overdose and now we are equipped to deal with these unfortunate situations.”

Spillane, meanwhile, now sits on a 10-chief advisory group for the Governor’s Opiate Task Force, which meets with members of Gov. Deval Patrick’s team on a regular basis to discuss the effects and impacts being felt by local departments while dealing with the opiate abuse problem.

Dedham has also formed the Dedham Coalition for Drug and Alcohol Awareness, an effort aimed at providing education and resources for drug addicts and families of addicts.

“We wish there was no need for Narcan, but as a community we cannot afford to ignore what’s out there,” Dedham’s Interim Town Manager Nancy Baker said in a statement. “Heroin and opioids are a problem in every community in the Commonwealth, and we will continue to come together to educate the public, bring drug dealers and suppliers to justice and rescue victims of the stranglehold of opioids whenever necessary.”