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San Francisco FD: 4 people survived fentanyl overdoses thanks to fast-acting bystander

Paramedics and Street Overdose Response Team members restocked the bystander’s naloxone supply and offered treatment services to the survivors

Narcan.jpg

AP Photo/Robert Schermer

Amy Graff
SFGate

SAN FRANCISCO — San Francisco firefighters and medics responded to a report of four adults who overdosed on Monday night at 24th and Mission streets near the BART station, officials said.

“Thanks to a fast-acting bystander who administered Narcan, all survived,” Lt. Jonathan Baxter, a spokesperson for the SF Fire Department, wrote in a text.

The individuals had consumed a substance that included fentanyl, a synthetic opioid that has become common on the streets of San Francisco in recent years. It’s up to 50 times stronger than heroin and, as SFGATE reported previously, accidental overdose deaths associated with fentanyl went up 483% from 2018 to 2020. Fentanyl was detected in the blood of 89 of the 260 people who died from overdoses in San Francisco in 2018, while it was present in 519 of the 712 people who overdosed in 2020, data shared by the city with SFGATE showed.

Baxter said that in addition to 911 units, the city’s Street Overdose Response Team and fire department paramedics responded to the scene, restocked the bystander’s Narcan supply and offered treatment services to the survivors.

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