HUNTINGTON, W.Va. — Police Chief Hank Dial says his officers will still respond to overdose calls, however, under a policy recently changed in the city, there will be better coordination of emergency response to overdose situations.
“We were often misutilizing resources,” Dial recently told MetroNews. “We had folks waiting on calls while we were often the third vehicle on an overdose call.”
All first responders are now armed with Narcan, the opioid blocking medication which is administered to those suffering from an overdose. The medicine will normally save a life, but Dial said now that everybody has the medicine there is not use to send three different agencies to every call.
“If police are needed or it’s a risky situation or something EMS feels we need to be there or if EMS and the fire department can’t be there, we will still go,” said Dial. “We still respond to overdoses, but we’re just not going to be the third response vehicle to an overdose where Narcan is being applied.”
In late April, Cabell County EMS was averaging 3.2 overdoses per day, compared with an average of 5.3 overdoses per day during the first nine months of 2017 which was the highest point on records dating back to 2014. It’s believed the county’s quick response teams have helped reduce the numbers.