Woman Uses Narcan Vending Machine To Save Two Lives

Shanice Collins, 34, secured Narcan from this Harm Reduction Vending Machine during a drug overdose emergency earlier this month at the Martin Luther King Jr. Community Center. (Photo by Edgar Mendez)

Dec. 2 began as a routine day at the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Community Center, office assistant Shanice Collins recalls.

While some visitors worked out at the fitness center and others played basketball, Collins, 34, watched live footage from the security cameras and noticed crowds gathering.

“Then someone came in here and told me that someone was having a seizure,” she said.

Collins, a former certified nursing assistant who has a son with epilepsy, raced downstairs to the area near the gym to help. There she encountered a man who was not breathing.

“He wasn’t responding when I tried to open his hands or talk to him, so that’s when I knew it wasn’t a seizure and was something else,” she said.

Springing into action

That man and another young man, who collapsed near a stairwell, had both overdosed on opioids.

Collins raced into action, retrieving Narcan, a medication used to reverse the effects of an opioid overdose, from the Harm Reduction Vending Machine located in the center’s lobby.

“I squirted one in one nostril and one in the other,” Collins said, administering two doses of Narcan to each man.

While she did that, two other employees from the center, located at 1531 W. Vliet St. gave the men CPR until medics arrived.

Once the medics arrived, they administered another dose of Narcan to each man and provided additional treatment until they were fully revived.

Saving two lives

“These young men were gone,” said Dee McCollum, director of the King Community Center. “If she had not administered the Narcan when she did, they would not have been here.”

The King Center is one of 11 locations that received Harm Reduction Vending Machines in July, said Clarence Jenkins, administrative coordinator for the Milwaukee County Behavioral Health Services’ Community Access to Recovery Services.

Since then, he said, 188 doses of Narcan, 388 fentanyl test strips, 137 medication deactivation bags, 163 medication lock bags and 97 gun locks have been retrieved from the machine located in the center.

“The Martin Luther King Center has been a great host and has played a significant role in saving lives in our county,” Jenkins said.

Jenkins said 4,419 fentanyl test strips and 2,539 doses of Narcan have been distributed through the county vending machines.

He said eight more vending machines will be placed in the community next year.

From playing basketball to collapsing

McCollum said the young men had visited the center to play basketball. They then stepped outside to a car, came back inside and entered the bathroom together.

Five to six minutes later, McCollum said she noticed that their demeanor began to change and then they collapsed.

According to the Wisconsin Department of Health Services, signs of an opioid overdose include unresponsiveness or unconsciousness; slowed or stopped breathing; cold or clammy skin; snoring or rattling sounds; and discolored lips or fingernails.

Collins said it was the first time she’d ever administered Narcan, but that she had received a short training for it.

She said the incident helped her realize just how much opioids were impacting the community.

“I didn’t know it was that bad until that day,” she said. “I was asking the young men if they realized that they were not breathing and almost died.”

McCollum said she plans to offer extensive training on Narcan for her entire staff and continues to be amazed by Collin’s response.

“She remained calm in an emergency situation,” McCollum said. “She is a hero.”

‘She’s a hero’: Quick use of Narcan by office assistant at King Community Center saves 2 lives was originally published by Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service