NICTD Transit
Police administered a potentially lifesaving dosage of Naloxone to a Lake
Station woman found unresponsive on Friday at Millennium Station.
Naloxone--marketed
under its more commonly known brand name, Narcan--is used to reverse the
effects of opioids like heroin, morphine, and oxycodone.
According to
police, at 2 p.m. Transit Police officers were advised of a “woman down”
somewhere at Millennium, as several thousand South Shore passengers were
boarding trains to return to Indiana following the Cubs World Series Parade.
Officers, assisted by Metra Police, located her--an 18-year-old Lake Station
woman--and summoned an ambulance.
The millions who
had gathered for the parade and were crowding the streets, however, led to
an “extended response time” from the Chicago FD ambulance, police said. A
nearby Chicago FD captain and paramedics accordingly responded on bicycles
and were assisted at the scene by an off-duty Gary firefighter and a nurse,
both of them South Shore passengers.
Meanwhile, Transit
Police Officer Raul Agosto, who carries a Naloxone emergency kit on his
protective vest, gave his unit to Transit Police Lt. Jessie Watts, Jr. who
actually administered the nasal dosage to the patient. “The woman quickly
regained consciousness and was stabilized for an ambulance transport to
Northwestern Memorial Hospital,” police said.
Transit Police
officers were issued Naloxone kits this summer and this is the first time
they have had to use the drug.
“This young woman
was incredibly fortunate to have been found so quickly and then cared for by
such a talented team of emergency responders,” Transit Police Chief Robert
Byrd said.