DuPage County program credited with saving 100th heroin overdose victim

For the 100th time since 2014, a DuPage County police officer has used the opiate overdose reversal drug Narcan to save someone's life.

Early Thursday morning, a DuPage County sheriff's deputy gave Narcan to a 24-year-old man who was overdosing on heroin in an unincorporated area near Willowbrook, the sheriff's office said. The victim then was taken to the hospital for further medical treatment.

The deputy learned how to administer the drug through the DuPage Narcan Program, which is part of the county's multitiered effort to combat heroin. The training of individuals to use Narcan started late in 2013, and officers began administering it in 2014.

“Reaching 100 saves in just two years shows that the DNP is making progress against the heroin epidemic in DuPage County, and that is a credit to the officers on the street using Narcan and the partners supporting DNP,” DuPage County Coroner Richard Jorgensen said in a statement.

According to DuPage County Health Department officials, 32 lives were saved in 2014 and 61 were saved last year. So far this year, there have been seven people saved.

“This lifesaving effort will continue, along with recovery assistance to those who have been saved so this cycle of drug abuse is broken,” said Karen Ayala, executive director of the health department.

Narcan, also known as Naloxone, is a nonaddictive drug that counteracts the effects of opiates, including heroin and OxyContin.

The DuPage Narcan Program was organized in response to an alarming number of DuPage deaths attributed to opiate overdoses, officials said.

As part of the program, about 2,560 people — mostly police officers — have been trained to administer the inhalant Narcan to people having an overdose, officials said.