After Witnessing Benefits Of Narcan, Mayor Pushes For Police To Carry Overdose Medication
“It brought her back to life,” recalled Anaheim Mayor Tom Tait during a City Council meeting. “It allowed her to go to a hospital and get treatment.”
Orange County Register:
Anaheim Police Officers Will Train In Using Narcan To Treat Opioid Drug Overdoses
Mayor Tom Tait saw it with his own eyes. Five or six years ago during a police ride along, he and Anaheim Police Chief Raul Quezada responded to a suspected drug overdose. When they arrived at the scene, they found police officers giving CPR to a woman, who had supposedly overdosed on an opioid drug. But it wasn’t until Anaheim Fire & Rescue paramedics arrived moments later and used Naloxone – better known as Narcan – to treat her that the woman revived. “It brought her back to life,” recalled Tait during a recent City Council meeting. “It allowed her to go to a hospital and get treatment.” Tait’s personal experience along with growing opioid abuse in the city and Orange County are reasons why the mayor said he pushed his colleagues last week to allow for police to train and use Narcan along with the Fire & Rescue crews to treat overdose victims. (Pimentel, 9/20)
In other public health news —
Modesto Bee:
A Modesto Man Had A Very Slow Heart Rate. The Answer Was A Device The Size Of A Pill
The Micra Transcatheter Pacing System recently made its debut in Modesto and hospitals in Sacramento after the device received approval last year from the Food and Drug Administration. While a conventional pacemaker is embedded under the skin of a patient’s chest, the Micra device is inserted through an incision in the groin, directed through blood vessels to the heart and then anchored in the muscle of the lower, right ventricle. (Carlson, 9/20)
San Francisco Business Times:
'Druggable' Protein Could Halt Deadly Brain Cancers, If Only For A Few Months
The type of brain cancer diagnosed in Arizona Sen. John McCain — a nefarious type of tumor that hijacks the normal work inside the brain — could be treated by a drug already tested in humans, Stanford University research finds. (Leuty, 9/20)
East Bay Times:
Lady Gaga Has Fibromyalgia: So What Is It?
Fibromyalgia is a disorder that is characterized by symptoms including chronic muscle pain and crippling fatigue. According to the National Institutes of Health, about 5 million American adults have fibromyalgia — and between 80 and 90 percent of those affected are women. Patients also experience a variety of other symptoms, including sleep disruption, headaches, intolerance to medications and abdominal, bowel and bladder issues. (D'Souza, 9/20)