The quick and compassionate work of Cook County Sheriff’s Police reversed a deadly overdose in Chicago on Friday morning, announced Cook County Sheriff Thomas J. Dart today.
At approximately 9:40 a.m., Sheriff’s Police officers were on patrol in Chicago’s 15th district on the city’s West Side when a concerned citizen flagged them down in the area of 4900 West Superior Street. The officers discovered a man who appeared to be in his 50s unresponsive on the ground suffering from what appeared to be an opioid overdose.
While calling for an ambulance, an officer administered two doses of naloxone, a drug that can reverse an overdose, via nasal spray. The man regained consciousness and became responsive. The Chicago Fire Department then transported the man to West Suburban Hospital for further medical evaluation.
The Office’s Treatment Response Team, which helps those battling opioid addiction, are working to follow up with the individual to provide assistance in securing addiction treatment.
Hundreds of Sheriff’s Police and other Sheriff’s Office personnel carry the lifesaving drug naloxone to reduce opioid overdoses, which are on track to kill as many as 2,000 people in Cook County this year. Thanks to the program, Office personnel have been involved in the reversal of 86 overdoses and referred almost 200 clients to the Treatment Response Team so far this year.