KILL DEVIL HILLS, N.C. – A man was resuscitated Wednesday using a drug administered by a Kill Devil Hills Police officer who had just completed the training process to administer it.
Kill Devil Hills Police say Sgt. Rodney Rawls and Lt. John Towler were sent to the intersection of Calvin Street and Wrightsville Avenue around 1 p.m. Wednesday afternoon after a Pennsylvania man noticed someone slumped over in the driver’s seat of their vehicle.
The Pennyslvania man, Robert Tiel, had removed the man from the vehicle and started to assess him. The man was unresponsive; his skin was blue, and he did not appear to have a pulse.
Sgt. Rawls used his Automatic External Defibrillator (AED) while Lt. Towler administered a dosage of NARCAN to the man.
Lt. Towler had just completed the NARCAN training offered to Dare County First Responders through Dare CASA and had just been issued the NARCAN applicator two hours prior to the incident.
After receiving the NARCAN dosage, the man’s pulse, color and breathing all began to return to normal. The NARCAN used in this instance was a nasal injector that administers a 4 mg dose of naloxone HCI through the sinuses.
Dare County EMS and Kill Devil Hills Fire Department members arrived to take over life-saving measures and the man was transported to Outer Banks Hospital for further treatment.
(l) Lt. John Towler (r) Sgt. Rodney Rawls displaying their lifesaving equipment, the NARCAN applicator and the A.E.D. (automatic external defibrillator).
All of the department’s vehicles are equipped with A.E.D.’s which were purchased and donated through a grant from SAGA Construction. The NARCAN applicators are being issued to officers after completing a one hour block of training.
The Kill Devil Hills Police Department would like to thank Mr. Tiel for his swift action that certainly helped save a life and DareCASA and the North Carolina Harm Reduction Coalition for hosting the training and funding the purchase of the NARCAN applicators.
