Transit Police saved a man from an overdose last weekend using naloxone kits officers were issued January.
This was the first time the new kits were used to prevent an overdose, according to a press release from Transit Police.
It happened around 2 a.m. on Saturday, Feb. 25, when a passenger spotted a man in a stairwell at New Westminster SkyTrain station. He seemed to be suffering from an overdose, so the passenger alerted Transit Police. When they located the man, he was unresponsive, so the officers administered naloxone “and within several minutes he responded and spoke to officers,” according to a press release from Transit Police.
“He advised he had used heroin that may have been laced with fentanyl and that this has happened to him before. Ambulance attended and took him to hospital,” noted the release.
Transit Police began carrying naloxone in January when the department purchased 40 kits to serve the on-duty officers. All 140 officers have been trained in its use, according to the department.
“We are in the process of purchasing additional kits which will allow for a kit for every officer. There will also be an additional 25 static naloxone sites across the transit system,” noted the release.
