Left to Right: Cpl. Traylor is presented honors by Chief Deputy Jay Fitzpatrick
Attorney General Leslie Rutledge awarded a life-saving badge to Corporal Joseph Traylor of the Saline County Sheriff’s Office (SCSO) for his efforts in reviving an unconscious male subject using some very recent training and new equipment.
Late on the evening of October 28, 2017, Traylor was dispatched to a call with an “unconscious subject with possible overdose.” According to the SCSO, a male was found lying face down. This deputy is trained in emergency medicine, and found that the victim had shallow breathing, a faint heartbeat and was unresponsive to pain.
By coincidence, all SCSO staff was trained just two days earlier on an emergency nasal spray called NARCAN® (naloxone HCl), to be used in cases suspected opioid overdose. After Traylor administered one dose of the spray, the victim’s vital signs began to stabilize. The victim was then treated at a local hospital and released.
On Tuesday, November 14, 2017, the SCSO’s Detective Justin Oliver was credited in yet another case of using NARCAN® to help save an overdose victim’s life.
On the SCSO’s social media, Sheriff Rodney Wright thanks State Drug Director Kirk Lane (former Benton Police Chief) for providing NARCAN and training to the SCSO. Drug overdose deaths and opioid-involved deaths have continued to increase in the United States. Over 60% of drug overdose deaths involve an opioid. Since 1999, the number of overdose deaths involving opioids (including prescriptions) and heroin quadrupled. From 2000 to 2015, more than half a million people died from drug overdoses.