Pittsburgh Backs Off Controversial Decision to Withhold Narcan from Firefighters
Aug. 08--Pittsburgh officials reversed course on a controversial decision Friday to take away a life-saving, opiate antidote from firefighters who often are among the first emergency personnel to respond to 911 calls.
Pittsburgh Public Safety Director Stephen Bucar ordered fire officials to suspend issuing naloxone, known by the brand name Narcan, from fire trucks because the city paramedics union threatened to file a grievance, said Ralph Sicuro, president of the International Association of Fire Fighters Local No. 1.
By 5 p.m. Friday, the city backtracked and said firefighters could continue to use the drug while the law department reviews the issue.
"After further discussion with the administration, Public Safety Director Bucar would like to state that the firefighters will continue utilizing Narcan while the law department determines if doing so is a conflict with the EMS contract," Public Safety spokeswoman Sonya Toler said in an email to the Tribune-Review, which inquired about the drug's removal earlier in the afternoon. "Director Bucar also encourages the EMS and firefighter unions to work together on this important life-saving endeavor."
Representatives for the paramedics union did not respond to calls or emails.
Sicuro said the city distributed naloxone to 39 fire department vehicles starting Monday.
Firefighters in June were trained to use the drug, which reverses overdose effects of powerful opiates such as heroin. Firefighters are trained as emergency medical technicians and permitted to use Narcan, which can be administered intravenously or as a nasal spray.
Sicuro said fire Chief Daryl Jones told him Friday that Bucar ordered removal of the drug from the fire units. A memo signed by acting fire Chief Thomas Cook said battalion chiefs were ordered to collect the Narcan "per the mayor's orders." Four battalion chiefs on duty did so in the afternoon, Sicuro said.
"They (paramedics) threatened to file a grievance, and then they pulled it," Sicuro said. "They just decided 'we don't want to have a fight with these guys (the EMS union), so they ordered it removed."
In the few days the drug was available to firefighters, they used it at least once. Sicuro said Truck 24 stationed on the South Side responded about 7:30 p.m. Thursday to a report of a woman who suffered a drug overdose in an alley. The woman had no pulse when firefighters arrived, he said. They revived her after the firefighters administered Narcan.
"The big deal is they're taking life-saving equipment off of us, which is ridiculous," Sicuro said before city officials reversed course.
Pittsburgh firefighters and paramedics have tangled before over polices that govern the duties they perform during an emergency.
Former Mayor Luke Ravenstahl sought to transfer rescue operations response from paramedics to the fire bureau, which the paramedics contested. The Fraternal Association of Professional Paramedics Local No. 1 authorized a strike over the issue in 2012, and it resurfaced under contract negotiations last spring under Mayor Bill Peduto.
A November 2014 state law, called David's Law, made naloxone available to first responders as well as family members or friends who might be able to save the life of a drug user experiencing an opioid-related overdose. The Pennsylvania State Police began carrying it in April 2015.
Dr. Karen Hacker, director of the Allegheny County Health Department, in May 2015 announced an order to make naloxone available at some pharmacies. They're now allowed to dispense naloxone to individuals at risk of a heroin or opioid-related overdose, or those who may witness one.
"We've had a major heroin problem," Hacker said. "We've had a large number of deaths and providing access to naloxone, which reverses the effects, is one strategy to at least decrease the mortality."
The drug works by displacing the opioids and waking up the person. Hacker said she supports the idea of letting first responders, including firefighters, have the drug in the field, calling it "low-risk."
"It does not do anything in terms of treatment of addiction, but it does allow people to survive," she said.
Copyright 2015 - The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review
