Health Officer Trains #MACoCon Attendees to Save Lives!

Baltimore County Health Officer Dr. Gregory Branch trained 2017 MACo Summer Conference attendees how to save a life using naloxone for opioid overdoses and hands only CPR for cardiac arrest.

Baltimore County Health Officer Dr. Branch
Baltimore County Health Officer Dr. Branch

According to the Maryland Department of Health in 2016, over 1,800 Marylanders died from an opioid overdose. Naloxone is a medication approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to safely and effectively reverse overdose by opioids such as heroin, morphine, and oxycodone. It blocks opioid receptor sites, reversing the toxic effects of the overdose.

About 40 people each hour have a cardiac arrest while not in a hospital, and just over nine out of 10 do not survive, according to American Heart Association statistics. Bystander CPR can double or triple a cardiac arrest victim’s chances of survival. Using the classic disco song “Stayin’ Alive” bystanders can administer CPR without the need for mouth-to-mouth resuscitation.

Practicing their newly learned "Stayin' Alive' hands only CPR skills on "Alice"
Practicing their newly learned “Stayin’ Alive’ hands only CPR skills on “Alice”

Trainees learned how to:

  • Recognize an overdose
  • Respond to an overdose (and how not to!)
  • Administer Naloxone
  • Recognize when someone may be in cardiac arrest
  • Respond to an unconscious
  • Pump to the beat of “Stayin’ Alive” to help restart the heart

And they received a:

  • Narcan nasal spray overdose kit
  • Hands only CPR kit

This training was sponsored by the Maryland Association of County Health Officers (MACHO) and was offered on Wednesday, August 16, 2017.

The MACo summer conference was August 16-19, 2017 at the Roland Powell Convention Center in Ocean City Maryland. This year’s theme was “You’re Hired!”.