Opioid Epidemic: First responders discuss unprecedented overdose levels

SOUTHBRIDGE, Mass. – While emergency responders across the country deal with the opioid epidemic, some communities are feeling the effects more than others.

In Southbridge, a southern Worcester County town of about 16,000 people, EMTs responded to 15 overdoses in a span of 72 hours.

“From what we understand, it’s not pure heroin that they are using. They are mixing it with other products,” Fire Chief Mark Difronzo told Boston 25 News Friday.

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With the recent number of opioid and heroin overdose calls, DiFronzo said things are out of control.

“Within a span of about two hours, we got six calls for an overdose patient,” he said.

Each ambulance in town is equipped with an extra stash of Narcan as a precaution, and ventilation bags to keep the victims breathing while the drug is administered.

“We use it in the nose first,” Deputy Fire Chief Paul Normandin said. “We close off one nostril on one side and spray it right in.”

Narcan is a life-saving tool that helped Tiffany Lacroix when she overdosed.

“I was on a daily basis using. There were times I used up to 200 a day,” the homeless mother of two said.

Lacroix said she came close to death far too many times.

“I remember being really tired, then I nodded off, woke up with four people around me,” she said.

After that scare, Lacroix changed her life.

“I used for two years, then I overdosed. Ever since then I was too scared to lose my children, my life,” she said.

None of the 14 overdoses in Southbridge resulted in death, something officials in town said they are thankful for.

However, the life-saving Narcan that used to cost as little as $10 a box has more than tripled in price to $34 due to the surge in demand.

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