Montco police use Naloxone to help save man

LIMERICK Montgomery County reported its first successful deployment of the overdose drug Naloxone this weekend by a police officer in Limerick Township.

The drug, also known as Narcan, counteracts the effects of opioids like heroin, and can save lives when administered in time.

On Saturday night, Limerick police went to a house where a 23-year-old man was unconscious and having trouble breathing, the county said in a news release. After an officer gave the man a Naloxone shot, he regained consciousness and was taken to a hospital, the county said.

Providing Naloxone to emergency responders was one of the recommendations made by the county's Overdose Task Force last month to address a 61 percent rise in heroin deaths from 2009 to 2013.

The county has about 400 doses on hand, and Limerick was one of the first departments to receive some, in early April.

Officers in Abington, Lower Providence, West Norriton, Whitemarsh, New Hanover, Upper Merion, West Conshohocken, Upper Providence, Norristown, and Lower Merion also carry the drug, and Bridgeport police will soon join them. - Jessica Parks