Tag Archives: Narcan
How a death spurred change for a SouthCoast fleet
In the summer of 2021, a Mayday call went out from the captain aboard a fishing vessel who needed Narcan to help save a life due to an overdose on board. There happened to be another vessel in the vicinity that was able to respond, and they tossed a box of the over-the-counter drug on board. The captain administered one dose, but nothing happened. He gets back on the radio. A second vessel was carrying Narcan and tossed it on board. The captain, after the fourth dose, sent his crew member back onshore alive. “That day there were three fishermen first responders that saved a life at sea,” said Debra Kelsey, with Fishing Partnership Support Services. photos, more, >>CLICK TO READ<< 07:53
The Mayday Call: How One Death at Sea Transformed a Fishing Fleet
About 40 miles east-southeast of Barnegat Light, N.J., the Jersey Pride, a 116-foot fishing vessel with a distinctive royal blue hull, was towing a harvesting dredge through clam beds 20 fathoms down when its crew found a deckhand unresponsive in a bunk. The captain suspected an overdose. After trying to revive the man, he rushed to the radio. “Yes, Coast Guard, uh, I just tried to wake a guy up and he’s got black blood in his nose,” he said, sounding short of breath on Channel 16, “I got guys working on him. Come in.” About 17 miles to the Jersey Pride’s southeast, the fishing vessel Karen Nicole was hauling back its two scallop dredges and preparing to swing aboard its catch. Mate Hollis Nevells listened to the conversation crackling over a wheelhouse radio. Nevells had lost a brother-in-law and about 15 peers to fatal overdoses. When the Jersey Pride’s captain broadcast details of his imperiled deckhand. “His last name is Murphy,” he said. Nevells understood what he heard in human terms. That’s someone’s son or brother, he thought. more,>>CLICK TO READ<< 17:08
Deadly fentanyl raises stakes for addicted fishermen
New Bedford fisherman Michael Kennedy, who died from a fentanyl overdose in 2022 at the age of 32. Photo provided by family.
Drug addiction is not new in the fishing industry. There is a tragic and long-understood pattern of fishermen using opiates or amphetamines to manage the chronic pain and endless hours that come with hard labor deep at sea. But the introduction of fentanyl has altered this pattern. In recent years, both fishermen and addiction counselors in the area say drug use has actually tended to be less pervasive on the waterfront than at any other point in the last few decades. Captains say they are more strict about enforcing a “zero tolerance” policy on their vessels, due to the high risk of fentanyl overdoses leading to death. Many keep Narcan, the opioid-overdose antidote, stocked on their boats and are aware of the outreach programs available to fishermen. But fentanyl has raised the stakes for fishermen continuing to struggle with addiction. >>click to read<< 15:59
Narcan: Saved at Sea
Narcan is a lifesaving medication for the treatment of opioid overdose, but stigma around addiction limits access to it. This clip from the documentary film “Untreated & Unheard: The Addiction Crisis in America” tells the story of Captain Bill Miller, a commercial fisherman who has advocated for getting Narcan on commercial fishing boats. Video, >click to watch<, If you or a loved one is suffering from substance use disorder you can find tools, help and hope at https://drugfree.org/get-support/ 12:59
Tight-Knit Fishing Communities Navigate Drugs
Johnnie*, a salt-and-pepper fisherman in his late 50s, is smiling as he tells me what happened one dark night last year. “It was like a movie star, dropping down from the sky off the helicopter to get to my crewmate, pitch of night,” he says. “The Coast Guard—this handsome guy, my wife would’ve loved him, like Rock Hudson—dropped down from the moon. Felt like hours after we had given him all the Narcan we had. The Coast Guard still didn’t carry it back then, did you know that? So they pulled him up into the clouds and we all were left below at sea.”, “It’s not the first time that’s happened on our boat,” Johnnie says. “If we didn’t have that Narcan on board though, kid probably wouldn’t have made it.” >click to read< 19:13
Four crew members on charter fishing vessel taken to area hospitals after suspected overdoses
San Diego Fire-Rescue responded to a call of multiple suspected overdoses on the fishing vessel Shogun near Fisherman’s Landing. Crews on scene administered Narcan to the four crew members who were then taken to hospitals in various states of consciousness. News 8 learned that two of the people were taken to Mercy Hospital, one to UCSD and it was unclear where the fourth was taken. The Shogun had just returned from a three-day fishing tour and no guests were on board when the suspected overdoses occurred. >video, click to read< 09:38
The Massachusetts fishing fleet confronts an opioid problem
A reputation for drug use has long followed the Massachusetts fishing fleet, whose fiercely independent crews often return to port flush with cash and ready to exhale after long and dangerous trips. Some fishermen link that reputation to a rugged cowboy culture; others to the pain medication taken by men and women whose bodies are battered by the job. But now, as opioid deaths rise relentlessly in Massachusetts, fishing captains from Cape Ann to Buzzards Bay are beginning to stock their boats with naloxone, a drug that reverses overdoses and is commonly sold under the trademark Narcan. click here to continue reading the story 09:46
PARRI to offer Narcan training for fishermen
John Rosenthal, Co-founder and Chairman of the Police Assisted Addiction and Recovery Initiative (P.A.A.R.I.), Allie Hunter McDade, Executive Director of P.A.A.R.I., Mayor Sefatia Romeo Theken and Police Chief John McCarthy are pleased to announce that the City of Gloucester, in conjunction with the Fishing Partnership Support Services, Gloucester Fishermen’s Wives Association and the Coast Guard, will offer CPR, first aid and nasal naloxone training to commercial fisherman on Friday, March 31. Approximately 40 fishermen will attending the CPR/first aid course, which will include a segment where they learn how to recognize and respond to an opioid overdose, including how to administer nasal Narcan, which will then become another staple instrument included in their first aid kits. continue reading the story here 08:38
