Feb. 15--A Norwalk police officer recently was rushed to the emergency room after experiencing what is believed to have been narcotic poisoning following an arrest at Walmart.
One of the scariest situation for first-responders is the possibility of drug poisoning from lethal substances such as fentanyl or carfentanil.
Both drugs can be absorbed through the skin on contact, making them dangerous for medical and law enforcement responders to care for the increasing number of overdose patients. For non-drug users, coming into contact with even the smallest amount of either could be deadly since fentanyl is about 50 times stronger than heroin and carfentanil is considered to be 10,000 times more potent than morphine.
Norwalk Police Chief Dave Light said three weeks ago an officer responded to Walmart for what might have seemed to be a routine call.
The incident resulted in a man's arrest, but not before he gave officers a difficult time.
"We arrested a guy out at Walmart and (the officer) had to wrestle him around for a few minutes to get the cuffs on him," Light said.
Shortly after the incident, Light said, the officer said he "felt strange." His heart rate elevated and his lips went numb. The officer was rushed to the Fisher-Titus Medical Center emergency room.
"We're pretty sure it was fentanyl poisoning that caused it," Light said. "We think the possible fentanyl was on either his hands or his wrists."
The incident caused Light to look into more precautionary steps, such as purchasing special protective equipment.
"I'm concerned for my officers going out there and facing these things," Light said. "I just bought and distributed TurtleSkin gloves. We got the Bravo (style), which is hypodermic needle and cut resistant."
The gloves also should prevent the officers from experiencing a poisoning again.
Around the state, this is becoming a more serious problem, but the first time it's hit so close to home.
Norwalk Fire Lt. Charles Hillman said while the department hasn't had any of its firefighters suffer rom fentanyl poisoning, the men do take extra training to be in the habit of protecting their safety.
"No one here's been exposed to fentanyl on an EMS call at all," Hillman said. "Obviously there've been people using fentanyl (we've responded to), but no one's been exposed to any of it. Basically we just try to train for when fentanyl could be in the scenario, which obviously is any overdose case we could respond to. We just try to be extra careful."
The lieutenant said the firefighters don't wear any extra personal protective gear, but always wear nitrile gloves when dealing with any patient.
"There's not anything special, as far as the gloves," he said. "Obviously those are pretty thin gloves, but we need them for dexterity to work on people."
North Central EMS, which also hasn't had any drug poisonings on the job, uses the same type of hand protection, which, according to one employee, won't allow any liquid and potential fentanyl to be absorbed though.
Resident, too, should take precaution.
Huron County Public Health officials recommend if people who find a needle, whether outside or someplace that seems out of the ordinary, to report it on the health department's Needle Finder app and then call the police and ask them to dispose of it. Residents, especially children, should not touch stray needles, in case they contain traces of fentanyl or a drug similar to it.
___ (c)2018 the Norwalk Reflector (Norwalk, Ohio) Visit the Norwalk Reflector (Norwalk, Ohio) at www.norwalkreflector.com Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
