Michael Risinit, and Steve Lieberman

TJN

ORANGETOWN – In just over 24 hours, town police have saved two people from potential heroin overdoses by applying an antidote nasal spray, authorities said Friday.

The first save came about 6:15 p.m. Thursday when officers found the 49-year-old man unresponsive with limited breathing inside a South Franklin Street residence in Nyack, Orangetown Police Sgt. Robert Ruggiero said.

One officer administered the intranasal Naloxone spray commercially called Narcan, improving the man's breathing, he said.

Rockland paramedics arrived and performed additional lifesaving measures to the man, Ruggiero said. The Nyack Ambulance Corps took him to Nyack Hospital.

In a similar scene Friday, officers arrived to a home on South Broadway in Upper Grand View about 8:50 p.m. to find a 31-year-old woman "sweating profusely with a rapid heart rate and extremely shallow breathing."

Officers again administered the intranasal spray, improving her condition. She was treated further by Rockland Paramedic Services and was conscious and alert when taken to Nyack Hospital by the Nyack Ambulance Corps, Ruggiero said.

Narcan has been distributed to Lower Hudson Valley police departments in response to the epidemic of heroin overdoses and deaths that have hit the region.

Orangetown police officers were recently trained by the Rockland Paramedic Services in the administration of Naloxone, Ruggiero said.

Thursday's incident marked the first use of Narcan by an Orangetown officer, Ruggiero said. Other departments in Rockland and the region also have successfully used the antidote.

The heroin epidemic, along with the rise in co-addictive opiate prescription drug use, have mobilized law enforcement, federal and state officials, and drug treatment advocates.

Arrests for heroin possession have increased with the crackdown.