A Chesterton Police
officer used his department-issued Narcan anti-opioid kit to save the life
of an apparent heroin overdose victim on Friday, Jan. 13, at the 22-year-old
man’s residence in the 100 block of West Porter Ave., the CPD said.
According to
police, at 12:12 a.m. officers responded to the residence--they’d been there
before for a prior OD--and observed the man on the kitchen floor, covered in
sweat, his face blue, and his breathing very shallow.
Recognizing the
symptoms of an overdose, one of the officers administered a nasal dosage of
naloxone hydrochloride--the anti-opioid marketed as Narcan--while two others
began CPR on the man, whose color promptly began “to come back more flush
after two cycles of CPR,” police said. The man’s eyes then opened and he
became “slightly more aware.”
EMS personnel
subsequently arrived and administered a second dosage of naloxone
hydrochloride and the man “once again became more alert and awake,” police
said.
When able to
communicate, the man advised officers that he had “shot up” earlier “but did
not know how much” and “did not remember anything from before,” police said.
The man was
transported to Porter Regional Hospital for further treatment.
Officers were
unable to locate either paraphernalia or heroin in the residence. The man’s
father, for his part, advised that 15 minutes before the officers’ arrival
his son had been “fine.”
The incident was
referred to the Detective Bureau for further investigation and follow-up,
police said.