April 10, 2023 - The Tenaha Police Department has received a supply of Narcan to help in the event a citizen has been the victim of an overdose of an opioid, or in the event an officer has been exposed to such a substance while performing their duties.
Abigail Riley, BSN, RN, with Christus Health, was informed of the need and made the connection to be able to help bring Narcan to Tenaha.
“I was told that they needed some Narcan,” said Riley. “At Christus we have started a program where, since we’re not for profit, we’re still able to get government funding for Narcan where for law enforcement the funding has been really cut.”
Riley is able to order the Narcan, and through Christus, is able to provide Narcan to places in need. She delivers the supply, and then helps train the officers who would likely utilize it on how to identify signs and symptoms, as well as how to administer the lifesaving drug.
Tenaha’s location in Shelby County at an intersection of major U.S. highways, increases the likelihood of illegal substances traveling through, and therefore the need for Narcan should someone be exposed to an opioid.
“Especially here being on 59, I feel like this is probably a really important place to have some,” said Riley. “I think there is actually a shortage of Narcan currently and, so anyway we can help in the community that’s our goal.”
Illegal substances are constantly being addressed by law enforcement agencies, and with a higher prevalence of Fentanyl being reported nationwide, exposure is of great concern to officers.
“If they were to come across something and come across Fentanyl in the air and breathe it in they would need to be able to dose themselves,” said Riley.
Tenaha Police Chief Scott Burkhalter agrees the danger is constant to members of the community, and different forms of drugs are a major issue in Shelby County.
“People are OD’ing all the time, I’ve taken personally 10 calls since I’ve been here [at Tenaha PD] of possible OD,” said Chief Burkhalter. “EMS could be busy, or a little ways away, so this will be handy for that.”
There are several different delivery systems for Narcan, but the boxes that have been provided by Christus are delivered to the patient nasally. An added bonus of the Narcan, is there aren’t supposed to be any negative effects from the drug.
Riley explained how simple the Narcan nasal doses are to administer right out of the box, but they can be expensive for a law enforcement agency to budget at $100 a box, which could potentially go toward one incident. She said she has a soft spot for law enforcement officers with her brother also being an officer, and she likes the community aspect of helping to provide the Narcan where it’s needed most.
Riley helped describe how the Narcan works as an opiod antagonist and helps the patient to fight back against an addictive substance like Hydrocodone, Oxycontin, or Fentanyl.
“The opiod in that is going to bind to receptors and this knocks those opioids off the receptor and it’s going to bind to the receptor instead of the opioid,” said Riley. “The problem is, opioids usually have a longer life in your system than these, so you might have to do multiple doses depending on how much opioid you have in your system.”
As the symptoms of someone overdosing increase, the need for someone to receive a dose of Narcan becomes greater.
This article is copied from Shelby County Today without permission.
“When you’re overdosing on opioid typically you start having shallower breathing, lower heart-rate, you might pass out,” said Riley. “You might stop breathing completely, and so knocking those opioids of your receptors and getting this there is going to get you breathing, and hopefully it lasts for the EMS to get there, if not you have two in the box.”
Common opioid drugs which officers and citizens may come into contact include:
- Morphine: MSir, Avinza, Kadian, MS Contin, Oramorph SR, Embeda
- Oxymorphone: Opana IR, Opana ER
- Fentanyl; Actiq, Duragesic, Mylan
- Methadone: Dolophine, Methadose
- Hydromorphone: Dilaudid, Exalgo
- Meperidine: Demerol, Mepergan
- Buprenorphine: Suboxone, Subutex, Zubsolv, Bunavail, Butrans
- Sufentanil: Dsuvia
- Tramadol: Ultram, Ultram ER, Ultracet
- Codeine, Tylenol #3 and #4, Tylenol with Codeine, TyCo
- Hydrocodone: Vicodin, Lortab, Lorcet, Norco, Compounded SR, Zohydro
- Propoxyphene: Darvon, Darvocet
- Tapentaol: Nucynta
- Oxycodone: OxyIR, Percocet, Tylox, OxyContin, Roxicodone, Percodan
- Heroin
