SOMERSWORTH, N.H. — Paramedics are now planning on making appointments to overdose patients after they have left the hospital.
WMUR.com reported that the American Ambulance said it will make house calls to check on overdose patients as it tries to deal with a growing number of calls.
“To my knowledge, there is nowhere else in the United States where EMS is delivering Narcan to someone’s home,” Scott Schuler, American Ambulance ops manager, said.
The house calls will be made to put Narcan into the hands of caregivers and addicts. Officials said that while caregivers are more likely to seek the anti-overdose drug, users are more likely to administer it.
Crews will show patients and anyone else in the home at the time of the house call how to use Narcan.
“And then we’ll show them how to do hands-only CPR, which is putting their hands directly in the center of the chest and pressing down to the rhythm of ‘Staying Alive,’” Schuler said. “For me, success is simply one life saved. It’s not a statistical number. It’s simply one.”