GLENDORA >> Police used a newly-obtained anti-overdose nasal spray for the first time Saturday to revive a man overdosing on heroin in Glendora, officials said.
The incident unfolded shortly before 11 p.m. at a home in the 800 block of East Route 66, Glendora police Lt. Rob Lamborghini said in a written statement.
Officers responding to a report that a 31-year-old man had overdosed on heroin found the patient unconscious in an bathroom “in respiratory distress,” Lamborghini said.
“His breathing was very shallow and slow and his pulse was weak and slow,” he said. “Other signs of an opiate overdose were observed by the officers, two of whom are trained emergency medical technicians.”
The officers administered a dose of nasal naloxone, or Narcan, just as paramedics arrived at the scene.
The drug, which was first obtained by the department six months ago, is used to help reverse respiratory arrest caused by opiate drugs such as heroin or prescription painkillers.
“Within a minute and a half he was breathing more normally and his pulse rate rose significantly. He was treated by paramedics and was taken to Glendora Community Hospital where he regained consciousness and fully recovered,” Lamborghini said.
The Glendora Police Department became the first Los Angeles County law enforcement agency to be authorized to use the anti-overdose drug — known as nasal nolaxone, or Narcan — in April.
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Five Glendora police officers and one community service officer, who are also trained as EMTs, carry the spray, officials said. They also carry oxygen, which, in conjunction with Narcan, can be very effective in reviving overdose victims.
The program was introduces after police noticed a significant increase in both incidents of heroin possession and overdoses in recent years, officials said at the time.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control have noted a national “epidemic” of increasing heroin use nationwide.
“Between 2002 and 2013, the rate of heroin-related overdose deaths nearly quadrupled, and more than 8,200 people died in 2013,” according to a CDC statement.
Glendora police have long been at the forefront of marrying new medical technology with law enforcement duties.
In 1997, the department first in Southern California to issue portable defibrillators to all of its officers, officials said.
PHOTO: A dose of nasal naloxone, or Narcan, phorographed on Sept. 2, 2015. (Stephan Savoia/Associated Press)