N.H. EMS Officials Report Fewer Overdoses Due to Safe Stations

Christopher Hickey, EMS officer for the Manchester Fire Department, said EMTs from his department and American Medical Response, the city's ambulance service, have responded to 14 suspected opiate-related overdoses in the past week. Two of them were fatal.

"We suspect that this is a more potent or stronger opiate than what those with substance use disorder are used to seeing or using," Hickey said.

He said he's basing that both on statements from overdose victims about what they took as well as the amount of naloxone -- a drug used by first responders to reverse the effects of an overdose -- that it's taken to revive victims.

Hickey said typically, it takes just under 4 milligrams, about two doses, of naloxone to see signs of improvement in an overdose victim. But in the recent overdoses, EMTs have had to use as much as 6 to 8 milligrams for it to take effect.

Hickey said the number of overdoses in the city had been down in the past few months, compared with the same period in 2016.

Last April, for instance, the city had 77 suspected overdoses, 11 of them fatal. Hickey expects the number for this April will be lower than that, in the high 60s. "But it's still a number we don't want to see," he said.

Part of Manchester's success in reducing overdoses is credited to its Safe Station program, which encourages drug users to go to any fire station to ask for help when they're ready to seek treatment.

Firefighters will do a medical assessment and if needed, transport the patient to a medical facility.

Since the program began nearly a year ago, there have been 1,529 requests for help at the city's fire stations, involving 1,100 participants.

According to the fire department, through last Wednesday, 201 patients have been taken to hospitals, 977 to Serenity Place, and 347 to HOPE for New Hampshire Recovery. Participants have ranged in age from 18 to 70.

Other cities, both in New Hampshire and in other states, have begun emulating the project.

swickham@unionleader.com

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