GLENDORA >> Police emergency medical technicians in Glendora have become the first in the county to carry a nasal spray that can help save the lives of people overdosing on heroin or other opiate drugs, officials said.
Six Glendora police EMTs are now authorized to carry and use Narcan, a nasal spray used to help reverse respiratory arrest cause by overdoses of drugs such as heroin, Vicodin and OcyContin, according to Glendora police Lt. Rob Lamborghini, who helped develop the program for the Glendora Police Department.
“Unfortunately our officers are responding to heroin overdose calls now more than ever before, including the 1970’s,” Lamborghini said in a written statement. Prescription opiate abuse is also a major issue.
A law allowing first responders to carry Narcan became effective April 1, officials said.
Previously, EMTs and other first responders could only use ventilation and oxygen to treat overdoses in the field, Lamborghini said. Only paramedics carried “the life-saving drug.”
In 1997, Glendora police became the first agency in Southern California to issue portable defibrillators to all of its officers, officials said.