Chesterton firefighters responded to two separate heroin overdoses over the
weekend.
Fire Chief John Jarka told the Chesterton Tribune this morning that
the first occurred at 7:16 a.m. Saturday in the 500 block of South 19th
Street, where a 29-year-old man was found unconscious but breathing.
First-responders did not need to administer a dosage of the anti-opioid
Narcan but the subject was transported to hospital.
Then, at 7:12 p.m. Sunday, firefighters responded to the 100 block of
Beverly Drive, where a man, believed to be in his thirties, was similarly
found unconscious but breathing. Once again, Narcan was not administered but
the subject was transported to hospital.
This weekend’s overdoses follow one late last month, when at 10:22 a.m.
March 31 a man was found to have overdosed on the back porch of the
Shorebird Cafe at 117 S. Calumet Road, Jarka said. In that case a patron of
the restaurant administered CPR to the victim until first-responders arrived
and dosed him with Narcan. The subject was saved, Jarka said.
“There’s unfortunately another bad batch of heroin in the neighborhood,” he
added.
Jarka also spoke about the risk posed by accidental skin-to-skin contact,
not only to friends and families of overdose victims but to
first-responders, given the fact that much of the heroin in circulation now
has been laced with the powerful pain killer Fentanyl. “It’s very unsafe for
responders, for anyone who may come in contact with a victim’s skin.”