Texas Paramedic on a Mission to Halt Overdose Deaths

In June 2020, Fort Worth, TX paramedic Callie Crow lost her son Drew to an opioid overdose.

“He was almost 27 years old, married, and studying political journalism at the University of North Texas in Denton,” she told EMS World. “He was tall and big and whenever he was around people, they were drawn to him. But he had been addicted to opioids for at least 10 years, which was really difficult for me in lots of ways, but even more so because I've never done a drug in my life and I don't drink.”

Lifelong Struggle

Drew Crow had tried everything to quit. “He went through rehab, detox, therapy, cold turkey—everything,” said Callie. But Drew overdosed one night while at home with his wife, who thought her husband was merely asleep on their bed. “Then she began to hear and see those classic signs of an opioid overdose—not responding to her, sweating profusely, gurgling and snoring,” said Callie.

Drew’s wife called 9-1-1 and a police officer was first to the scene with Narcan on his belt, but according to Callie he did not administer it to Drew for some reason. There was a box of Narcan on the nightstand, but his wife didn’t know what it was, so it was no help.

“When the officer first got there, Drew was actually still breathing and still had a pulse,” said Callie said. “But by the time EMS got there, he was in cardiac arrest. They were able to get him back and he lived for 36 hours in the ICU before dying one week from his 27th birthday.”

Callie stayed by her son’s bedside during his last hours in the ICU, trying to fathom the horror of it all. “This was right in the middle of COVID, so it was not an easy task to even be up there,” she recalled.

“I decided to make sure that no other family has to experience what we have in the loss of Drew,” she said. “So I now spend my time educating first responders, law enforcement, volunteer fire departments and anyone else who wants to help in how to recognize opioid overdoses. We talk a little bit about addiction, and then I supply them with naloxone in order for them to be able to help others.”

36 Lives Saved and Counting

Crow conducts opioid overdose treatment training through her charitable organization Drew’s 27 Chains. Based on the messages her students send, Crow is able to keep a tally of the people they’ve saved from opioid overdoses. “An 18-year-old has a second chance today thanks to a local volunteer fire department inviting Drew’s 27 Chains for training and a supply of naloxone,” says a Sept. 29, 2022 post marking the 36th save. “Thank you guys for your hard work and compassion! You rocked it!”

Crow stresses the need for this knowledge among her peers in EMS.

“I think a lot of the time in EMS and the first responder world, we make a lot of assumptions about what people know and understand,” she said. “We get new things all the time, and a lot of times we get handed that stuff and they're like, ‘Hey, you know how to use this, right?’ And everybody goes, ‘Yeah’. Or we get sat down in front of a computer or watch a five-minute video while we're playing on our phone, and then we answer those two test questions at the end 10 times so that we pass and then we move on.”

A Lifesaving Break

Callie’s lifesaving training ground to a halt in January 2022. “For years, Crow and her charity, Drew’s 27 Chains, have depended on a federally funded state program run out of the UT Health San Antonio School of Nursing for free Narcan,” stated an August 3, 2022 article in the Texas Tribune. “But in January, the program ran out of money for the fiscal year, which began in September.”                         

Fortunately, Crow caught a break. The pharmaceutical company US WorldMeds, which makes FDA-approved ZIMHI syringes pre-loaded with 5 mg/0.5 mL of naloxone, stepped up to supply Drew’s 27 Chains with free samples to provide to her students. As a result she’s been able to resume her training while helping others save lives.

“This product delivers a higher dose of naloxone, plus it is injected into the leg muscle,” Crow said of ZIMHI. “The problem with the current nasally delivered version is that a lot of times an unconscious overdose patient has some kind of secretions in their nose, whether it be vomit or just mucus. So when you go and spray something up their nose, these blockages keep the medication from entering into their tissues. Whereas ZIMHI is injected directly into their leg muscle and ultimately into the bloodstream, so you can count on it getting into their system.”

Crow adds that ZIMHI’s higher dosage level means it works not only faster, but longer.

Crow continues to train first responders on the detection and fast treatment of opioid overdoses.

“My purpose is just getting the word out there and letting people know that ‘hey, this is super easy, and you can teach it even if you're not a teacher,’” she said. “Just getting information out there and letting people know that they could truly make a difference.”

James Careless is a frequent contributor to EMS World. Reach him at james@jamescareless.com