Portsmouth Firefighters Revive Overdose Victim Found in Cumberland Farms Bathroom

PORTSMOUTH, RI—Portsmouth firefighters saved the life of a 33-year-old man found unresponsive in the bathroom at the Cumberland Farms on East Main Road on Sunday night.

Portsmouth police were first to arrive at the scene at around 6:47 p.m. and immediately suspected the victim had overdosed on an opioid. Police administered naloxone, or narcan, nasally before EMTs arrived, but he remained unresponsive until an EMT administered a dose of narcan by injection.

The patient regained consciousness at that time, said Portsmouth Fire Department Deputy Chief Michael P. O'Brien. The patient was then offered and accepted help with a recovery coach.

"Portsmouth EMTs made phone calls to facilitate recovery treatment for the patient during transport," O'Brien said, noting that the effort is part of Governor Raimondo's Overdose Task Force program initiative.

The rescue Sunday comes less than a month after firefighters gave a 19-year-old woman another chance at life by reversing her likely fatal overdosewith a shot of narcan and steering her toward help with a recovery coach.

She's wasn't the first overdose patient from Portsmouth (local crews have administered narcan nearly 50 times over the last three years), but she's was the first to get the offer from EMTs while inside the ambulance. It's an important step long sought by advocates in the recovery community and a recommended practice by a recent overdose prevention and intervention task force convened by the Governor. The state Department of Health is coordinating with first responders to equip them with recovery resources to give to their patients who are addicted to drugs, particularly opioids.

"Portsmouth has not been immune to the opiate epidemic; over the last 3 years we have responded to about 125 overdose emergencies and administered narcan on nearly 50 occasions," O'Brien said at the time. "As a community, we must be aware of the problem and not fool ourselves into believing this isn’t happening here."

The young woman accepted the offer, O'Brein said, and will be working with a recovery coach to work to get clean and stay clean.

About 250 people died from overdoses in 2015 in Rhode Island. The rate of overdose deaths has increased by 250 percent since 2011.

Photo: Patch file photo.