Minneapolis firefighters start carrying Narcan
Minneapolis firefighters on Tuesday started carrying naloxone, a drug that can reverse an opioid overdose.
Firefighters, who are also EMTs, have been trained to administer a nasal spray form of the drug, said assistant chief Bryan Tyner. Naloxone is also called Narcan.
The move comes as opioid overdoses and deaths continue to rise in Minnesota.
Tyner said firefighters may not give injections, but he said the vapor form of naloxone still works.
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"It doesn't work quite as fast as the intravenous method, but within a minute or two you'll see a great change in the patient's condition."
Until now, firefighters were limited to treating the symptoms of an opioid overdose.
In a statement, Minneapolis Mayor Betsy Hodges said equipping firefighters with Narcan will help them save more lives. "As the use and abuse of opioids has increased in recent years, so have opioid overdoses," Hodges said. "MFD can play a critical role in preventing those overdoses from becoming fatal."
In 2014, 319 people in Minnesota died of opioid overdoses from both prescription painkillers and illegal drugs. That's a more than five-fold increase over the number of deaths in 1999.