Irwin police take steps to carry Narcan

Irwin will join a growing number of area police departments and first responders that have or will have personnel certified to use naloxone, the medicine that can be administered to a person to reverse an opioid overdose.

“Sometimes we arrive first (to an opioid) overdose, and it’s necessary ( to administer it) in this day and age,” said Irwin Police Chief Dan Wensel.

Wensel said this week he wants to have all of his officers — full-time and part-time — be certified to use naloxone, which is a nasal spray that can revive a person who has overdosed.

Not only can the use of naloxone, sold under the brand name of Narcan, help those who have overdosed on opioids, but it also can be used to protect his officers if they have been exposed to fentanyl, Wensel said.

Some of the police department’s officers are already certified in the use of naloxone, Wensel said.

Others will receive training through the Westmoreland County Drug and Alcohol Commission in the next couple of weeks, he said.

That training will educate the first responders on the signs and symptoms of an opioid overdose, said Breane Minardi, director of clinical and case management services for the Monessen-based drug and alcohol commission.

It can be done in-person or online and typically takes about an hour, Minardi said.

Among the police departments with officers who have been certified to use naloxone are Greensburg, Latrobe, the Westmoreland County park police and sheriff’s department and Allegheny Township, Minardi said.

The commission provides the police departments and first responders with a kit that contains an instruction card, a mask for administering CPR, gloves to protect the first responder and two doses of a four-milligram canister of naloxone, Minardi said.

Irwin police will create guidelines for using naloxone, and a policy will be developed for using the drug that reverses the effect of opioids, Wensel said.

That policy, based on a draft policy provided by the drug and alcohol commission, would be reviewed by borough solicitor Zachary Kansler and approved by the county drug and alcohol commission, Wensel said.