By Kevin Coughlin
Morristown police used the emergency medication Narcan to revive an unconscious man believed to have overdosed on heroin on Wednesday.
Officers Eric Petr and Rob Mazza responded to the Morristown Green at 9:48 pm and found people trying to help an apparently homeless 40-year-old male, whose breathing was labored and whose vital signs were slipping, said Lt. Stuart Greer.
Police suspected a heroin overdose. Officer Mazza quickly administered a dose of Narcan, also known as naloxone. The man’s pulse strengthened and he began breathing more regularly, Greer said.
Paramedics from Atlantic Health Truck 11 and emergency medical technicians from the Morris Minute Men then arrived and took over.
The man was transported to Morristown Medical Center for continued evaluation and treatment, Greer said.
Last month, the hospital donated a case of Narcan to the police, who had made their first save with the medication in June.
I don’t generally ‘chime in’ when a reader criticizes an article or photo that has been posted on MG. However, I always make exceptions and this is ‘one of those exceptions’. Not everyone is going to agree on how a story is written or if a photo is ‘appropriate or not’ to be posted. I suppose that is why we choose to live in this ‘Great Country of Ours’ AKA the U.S.of A.
Thankfully, we are all entitled to exercise our 1st Amendment Right….’Freedom of Speech (and expression)’.
I think I can say that on this ‘free newspaper’ (as you so aptly put it) we never discourage constructive criticism or differences of opinion. That is what makes any publication successful; ‘ is if you can defend your position & when you are wrong’ to promptly admit it. It has also become a pathway for some great debates here on MG.
But, when it’s evident that it becomes personal, it automatically takes away any credibility that an observation/accusation may have had. I could be mistaken but the tone of ‘Louise’s comment’ seemed to be more of a personal attack.
When I look at the picture I see something very different. I see that although this is someone ‘presumably homeless’ in distress, there were a number of people that were surrounding him and they cared enough to try and make sure that he didn’t die on a park bench and become another statistic/nameless drug addict. I don’t know for sure (but I’m somewhat certain that MG either knows the name or could retrieve it easily thru OPRA (open public records act). But the name shouldn’t really matter except to this individuals’ friends & family.
Thankfully, the happy ending is this family still has their loved one & they can hopefully provide the support that this individual desperately needs.
Speaking from personal experience,
Not only do I wish I still had my loved one…but I wish that I had a picture (literally) of PD, EMT’s, FD, etc ( and Narcan was available ) in 1996 back in Seattle, of these individuals trying to save my dad when he died alone of an overdose two blocks from the fire department. His ‘friend’ was too afraid to call 911 b/c he didn’t want to be implicated.
I’m so grateful that Narcan has been made available to our first responders (even if it was too late for my dad aka ‘my Pop’)
To have a second chance at living is a gift that not everyone gets.
I disagree. It’s a very sensitive photo. It’s shot from a distance, behind a table that completely obscures the victim. There is no way to identify him from this picture. Nor does the story name him. But the image conveys the gravity of the situation, and shows police saving someone’s life. In a public square. That’s newsworthy.
Wow. Another completely insensitive picture by this reporter. I would have thought it difficult to top last winters picture of the “belongings” of the man who froze to death, including his liquor bottle. The person in this picture is a human being with a family. The Patch did the same article with a photo of the heroic police and got all of the information conveyed without feeling that they needed to play “Gritty Journalist” Sir, you work on a free newspaper in Morristown New Jersey- the next time you see a human being in medical distress give him or her, and YOURSELF some dignity.
Thank everyone for quick and calm thinking.
We can make Morristown a safer an more neighborly place to live.
Thank you Morristown policemen