Yesterday morning, a homeless man held an unconscious woman as he sat in the doorway of a local restaurant on 4th Avenue in downtown Olympia.
“She won’t wake up, and she’s not breathing,” he said.
Her skin and lips were grayish pale. While he nudged her head with his right hand, he told her to wake up. When that didn’t work, he slapped, yelling, “Come on, come on, wake up.”
There was no response.
Asked if he needed medical assistance, he muttered something unintelligible and then said that she had overdosed on fentanyl as he slapped her again.
“911. What is your emergency?” the dispatcher asked. Told the details of who, what and where the two individuals were, she quickly dispatched a fire truck to the scene.
Meanwhile, the young man took out a Narcan nasal dispenser and administered a dose of naloxone. Again, she remained unresponsive. The young man then frantically began chest compressions.
As all of this occurred, a crowd of about eight or nine individuals began forming on the sidewalk. One man driving by in a truck stopped, jumped out, and tossed a Narcan dispenser into the crowd. “Use it,” he yelled and then drove away.
People in the crowd began offering conflicting advice as to when and how to use the Narcan and how to perform chest compressions. Nothing worked; the woman remained unresponsive.
One woman in the crowd said she thought the homeless woman had died.
Moments later, a fire truck pulled up, and four firefighters jumped out, carrying the necessary medical equipment. After pulling her out of the doorway, one of the firefighters placed an Ambu bag over her mouth and nose and began to squeeze the bag in a measured manner as another attached pads to her body to monitor her condition. He found a pulse.
Another firefighter began to ask the homeless man several questions, starting with had she overdosed on. He answered hesitantly about fentanyl being used.
A minute or so later, she suddenly sat straight up, her eyes wide open.
One of the firefighters knelt next and gently told her that she would be alright and that she would be going to a hospital to be checked out.
This homeless woman was fortunate not to become another death recorded due to a fentanyl overdose.
In 2022, there were 108,000 deaths by drug overdose in this country. Of that number, approximately 74,000 were from an overdose of fentanyl.
In 2023, the Drug Enforcement Agency removed 4.8 million lethal doses of fentanyl in Washington State.
According to Thurston County Coroner Gary Warnock, from January 1 to November 5 of this year, there have been 122 drug overdose deaths, of which 31 of the deceased were homeless.
Fentanyl was found in 77 of the deaths, from which 26 of the homeless people died.
Warnock also pointed out that the age range of the 77 deaths from fentanyl use was from 21 to 77 years old.
“She’s lucky to be alive,” a bystander said as the homeless woman loaded into a medic unit, “otherwise, she’d just be a grim statistic in Olympia’s growing homelessness problem.”
Editor's Note: More than a third of Olympia's homeless people are women. See related story.
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JulesJames
Wonderfully written! Thank you.
Saturday, November 9 Report this
SteveS
Thanks for publishing this well written story and bringing out the humanity of people on the edge. We need to devote the resources necessary to address the problems of homelessness and substance abuse.
Saturday, November 9 Report this
CJKelly
Thank you for reporting this in such a well written way. I do wonder...
Is this a homeless problem or a drug problem. Which came first? Where should resources be put first? Fighting the drug problems overtaking the streets or creating more housing? If housing is available will a person with a serious drug problem use that housing?
Saturday, November 9 Report this
HotTractor
Thank you for your article. I'm going to donate to thejoltnews because of stories like this.
Saturday, November 9 Report this