Ridgewood EMTs training to fight rise in overdose deaths
JULY 18, 2014 LAST UPDATED: FRIDAY, JULY 18, 2014, 12:31 AM
BY LAURA HERZOG
STAFF WRITER
Officials in New Jersey have reported a significant recent rise in deaths caused by overdoses on prescription painkillers and heroin.
Thanks to new state legislation, members of Ridgewood Emergency Services (EMS) are now better prepared to deal with any opiod overdoses they may encounter.
On Tuesday night, Dr. Marc Dreier, The Valley Hospital’s medical director of Emergency Services, trained Ridgewood EMS members in the new state-sanctioned administration of the drug naloxone, a temporary antidote for opioid overdoses.
“This is definitely a positive development,” Dreier said, “but prevention is the solution.”
According to EMS Chief Brian Pullman, Ridgewood deals with few overdoses on opioids, more commonly dealing with overdoses on other drugs. In his other position as a Ridgewood police sergeant, Pullman has encountered at least one heroin overdose that was “beyond the point of help.”
“We haven’t seen it as an ‘epidemic’ in Ridgewood, but we have seen cases,” he said.
Pullman and about 40 other emergency responders attended the one-hour training, which Dreier gave at 8 p.m. at the Douglas Place headquarters of Ridgewood EMS. Responders from other municipalities, including Mahwah and Waldwick, joined Ridgewood EMS members.
– See more at: https://www.northjersey.com/news/training-to-fight-rise-in-overdose-deaths-1.1053679#sthash.SmrheQl9.dpuf
