Brandon Twp.- Medics and deputies responded to two more heroin overdoses in the township within the space of a few days last week.
Both lives were saved by using Narcan, bringing to three the number of lives saved within the last two weeks with the medication that counteracts the effects of opiates.
According to Oakland County Sheriff’s Office reports, at about 2:57 p.m., April 30, deputies responded to the 4200 block of Granger Road to assist Brandon Fire Department medics who had been called to the home for a male not breathing. Paramedics told the deputy they suspected the 28-year-old man had overdosed on heroin, so they administered Narcan, which allowed the man to talk and hear questions. A syringe was found in the man’s pocket, with the plunger pushed all the way down. There was no fluid or powder in it.
A resident of the home told the deputies the man who was visiting used to have a heroin habit, but he thought he had ‘got clean.? He denied supplying the man with heroin or seeing him possess heroin. He said they both had been at a local bar the night before and then returned to the Granger Road home, where the man who overdosed went to sleep in the basement. He said he tried to wake the man at 2:45 p.m., but when he did not respond, he called paramedics to the home owned by his mother.
A few days later, at 12:24 p.m., May 3, a similar scenario played out in the 1600 block of N. Hurd Road, when medics saved the life of a 26-year-old male. Upon arrival, CPR was in progress by two male friends. A pulse and breathing was detected by medics, who then administered Narcan to bring the man, confirmed by his friends as a heroin user, back to consciousness.
The Citizen reported last week on a 24-year-old woman who overdosed on heroin in the early morning hours of April 24 in a home on Burt Court. The woman, the mother of a 5-month-old, had her life spared thanks to BFD medics who administered Narcan.
‘Without the Narcan, we would have had four or five deaths from heroin in the last couple months,? said OCSO Sgt. Greg Glover, Brandon substation commander. ‘We have filed warrants for two subjects involved in heroin use in the township… (Heroin) is everywhere. It’s easier and easier to obtain and cheap to purchase and use is definitely on the rise.?