The Oak Park Police Department is more prepared than ever to assist anyone experiencing an overdose caused by heroin or prescription pain relievers classified as opioids.
Officers and sergeants assigned to field duties carry automated external defibrillator (AED) cases equipped with doses of Naloxone, a fast-acting drug that can save the life of an overdose victim by blocking the effect of opioids in the brain.
Oak Park firefighter/paramedics have been equipped with Naloxone since the 1980s and will continue to carry the drug for emergency situations. But police often are first on the scene and equipping them with the drug may mean the difference in life and death when seconds count, officials say.
Equipping officers with Naloxone, also sold under the brand name Narcan, also brings the Oak Park Police Department into compliance with the state law that requires all police departments in Illinois to have access to what experts call an opioid antagonist in an effort to reduce overdose deaths.
For more information on Oak Park’s community policing approach, visit www.oak-park.us/police.
Anyone needing help with opioid use disorders, including families of and anyone affected by the disease, can get help 24 hours a day, seven days a week by calling 1.833.2FINDHELP, a hotline hosted by the Illinois Department of Human Services.