El Centro FD to use Narcan nasal sprays to combat fentanyl overdoses

EL CENTRO, Calif. (KYMA, KECY) - Fentanyl overdoses continue increasing in the valley, but the El Centro Fire Department (ECFD) will soon put a new program to the test.

Soon, nasal sprays will be distributed to victims right after an overdoses. It’s all part of saving their lives.

"It’s to get narcans out in the community to help facilitate the availability of the necessary medication to reverse these overdoses...That is essentially what it’s all about," said Joseph Bernal, Fire Chief for the ECFD.

The program is called the Narcan Leave Behind Program, and the way it works is by leaving a nasal spray to an eligible patient after an overdose.

Bernal says fentanyl overdoses are increasing as the fire department received about five calls, and Friday, I witnessed one.

"We are in route to a possible overdose...a female unresponsive...unknown if she is breathing," Bernal said.

When we arrived, a woman was on the floor unresponsive.

"You were unconscious for quite a while...We had to breathe for you...We had to give you a Narcan," Bernal stated.

Paramedics used two Narcans, and had to insert an IV in order for her to respond. She was later taken to El Centro Regional Medical Center (ECRMC).

"This is something that we ran into all the time and this is the exact reason...why we are beginning to participate...in the [Narcan Leave Behind]...if we would have not intervened with this patient maybe 3 to 5 minutes, she would have passed away and it would have been a completely different scenario," said Brad Chapin, Battalion Chief for ECFD.

Bernal said ECFD are aiming to start the program in a couple of weeks.