Deputies save woman from overdose with Narcan

An Ottawa County sheriff's deputy used a new drug deputies began carrying this summer to save a woman from a drug overdose Sunday in Oak Harbor, authorities said.

She was the first person the sheriff's office saved using Narcan, a drug sprayed in the nasal passages to reverse the effects of an overdose on opiates, including heroin and prescription drugs.

Deputies started carrying Narcan about a month ago.

"I didn't know when or if we'd use it," Sheriff Steve Levorchick said. "I'm sorry we had to use it already. By the same token, I'm glad our deputies had it on their gun belt."

A sheriff's deputy was called at 4:25 a.m. to the 300 block of East Main Street in Oak Harbor for a report of an unresponsive woman, according to an Ottawa County Sheriff's Office report.

An Oak Harbor police officer was already on scene and said the woman had possibly overdosed on drugs, according to the report. The woman was lying on the floor and was breathing shallowly.

The deputy got out the Narcan, and a medic administered the drug, according to the report.

"A short time later, the female woke up and asked what happened," according to the report.

Mid-County Emergency Medical Service took her to a hospital — it is not clear which one — for treatment, according to the report.

Sheriff's office staff began carrying Narcan after the Ottawa County Drug Task Force proposed using it in the county to save people from overdoses. Heroin use is on the rise locally, across Ohio and the country, task force agents have said.

The task force and sheriff's office worked with the Ottawa County Prosecutor's Office to buy a supply of the drug from Magruder Hospital.

"It's another tool that are deputies wear on their gun belt that you hope you never have to use," Levorchick said. "But if you do, you're glad you had it on your gun belt. It's a very good thing."