Dallas Co EMS

There are many layers to the battle against the opioid epidemic in the United States. One fight on the front lines of the problem deals with the medical effects of opioid abuse.

Dallas County Emergency Medical Services Director Mike Thomason says his department deals with people overdosing on opioids around once or twice a month. In the Des Moines metro area, it’s even more common, with instances popping up once or twice a week. Thomason says they have to work quickly in overdose situations, because the drugs often don’t take long to kill a person. “Opioids, what they do is they attack the central nervous system. They’re basically a painkiller, but they’re also a sedative. So they’ll render a person unconscious, and when they become unconscious they stop breathing, and when they stop breathing their brain dies and obviously they then die themselves.”

The term “opioid” refers to a wide variety of drugs and painkillers, including things like morphine, codeine, hydrocodone, oxycodone, heroin, and fentanyl. While these drugs are dangerous and can cause death when abused, Thomason says they are equipped to combat the overdose effects. “So Narcan reverses that effect quite considerably well, and we carry it in the dosages that will help out on our extreme overdoses. The police department carries enough for what’s called an ‘incidental contact.’ So that means, if their investigator is handling, let’s say fentanyl or heroin, and they were to ingest it in some way or take it in by skin contact, their dosage will help them in that situation. It won’t help a person that is overdosed necessarily, because they don’t have the quantities that are needed.”

Thomason adds, Narcan is available at most pharmacies as a precautionary measure, though he emphasizes it won’t help wean a person off an opioid addiction. To hear more from Thomason, listen to today’s Perry Fareway Let’s Talk Dallas County program at RaccoonValleyRadio.com.