For Immediate Release

Sunday, July 17, 2016

Contact: John Guilfoil
Phone: 617-993-0003
Email: john@jgpr.net

Boxborough Police Respond to Suspected Opioid Overdose, Rescuers Deploy Narcan

BOXBOROUGH — Chief Warren B. Ryder reports that the Boxborough Police Department saved a resident’s life yesterday by deploying nasal Naloxone to combat a suspected opioid overdose.

Marketed under the trade name Narcan, the drug is an opioid antagonist that quickly reverses the effects of a potentially fatal overdose by displacing the drug from the receptors in the brain. It has minimal side effects, is not dangerous if administered to a person who is not overdosing, and it has no potential for abuse.

On Saturday, July 16, 2016 at approximately 4:02 p.m., Boxborough Police and the Boxborough Fire Department ambulance were dispatched to a residence on Swanson Court for the report of an unconscious female.

Officers Patrick Colburn and Robert Fagundes responded to the scene where they found an unresponsive 23-year-old female. The officers administered Narcan prior to the arrival of the fire department ambulance.

The woman regained consciousness and fire department EMTs and Pro EMS Paramedics assumed care of the patient. She was transported to a local hospital for evaluation.

“Boxborough Police officers are equipped with this life-saving drug in order to help combat this terrible disease of addiction,” Chief Ryder said. “This resident is alive today because our officers administered Narcan.”

Opioid overdoses are currently one of the leading causes of death in Massachusetts and no community is immune to the problem. Governor Charles Baker has made addiction education and prevention a priority for his administration.

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