CABELL COUNTY, W.Va. — A paramedic’s body camera footage recorded during a heroin overdose call went viral earlier this month. Now both the paramedic and man he revived are speaking out about the incident.
WSAZ.com reported when EMS supervisor Chad Ward arrived on scene, 26-year-old Joey was lying unresponsive on his bed. Paramedics gave Joey Narcan and within minutes he woke up and was alert and walking.
Ward had his body camera on and caught the entire call on video. When the video was released, it quickly went viral.
“I never believed it was going to get that big,” Ward said. “When you get a story and it gets out that big, maybe it helped one person to quit doing heroin — decide, ‘This is not for me. I don’t want to risk it.’ Or maybe it helped one person to say, ‘I’m never going to try heroin. I see what it can do.’ Either way, if we helped one person, it was a great story. It was worth it.”
After the incident, Joey posted a message on Facebook for his friends and family.
“I can’t continue to live this way anymore,” said Joey. “I want better things to happen in my life and if I continue on the path I am in, I will be dead. Time to improve my life.”
Ward said he was glad the video prompted Joey to stop using heroin.
“It is a wonderful feeling that OK, we did this story and now this young man might get some help, might get past this addiction,” said Ward. “I hope people keep seeing it; I hope it changes people. Anything we can do that is going to eventually help is what we need to be doing.”