NEW YORK — Tens of thousands of fans packed Lower Manhattan on June 19 to celebrate the New York Knicks’ championship, but amid the confetti and cheering, a medical emergency unfolded that drove home the opioid epidemic.
A New Jersey volunteer EMT, Simone Kelly, was off-duty and enjoying the parade, when she spotted a man on the roof of a subway station entrance who appeared to be in distress. “This man was on a slanted surface, and was wobbling, swaying, and then eventually splays out,” she said, according to CBS News
Kelly climbed up to reach him.
“He was unresponsive, had decreased respiratory drive and the pinpoint pupils,” she said. “That’s usually enough we need to treat it as an overdose.
Someone in the crowd below tossed up a dose of Narcan, the opioid reversal medication. “I felt for a pulse, and I gave him a little nasal spray,” Kelly said, according to ABC 7 News.
Peter Shrieve-Don, a bystander with no medical training, had also climbed the structure after watching the man’s condition deteriorate. “He wasn’t doing well. I looked up, I watched the man start vomiting, I watched his eyes roll back,” Shrieve-Don said. “I’m just desperate trying to get the guy up.”
Police officers and EMS crews arrived a short time later.
The rescue played out in front of thousands of onlookers. Kelly described the surreal nature of performing emergency care before such a large crowd. “This roar came from the crowd — I got goosebumps,” she said.
Both Kelly and Shrieve-Don said they hope the incident sparks a larger conversation about the ongoing opioid epidemic. “I hope having so many eyes shows that we have an epidemic going on,” Kelly said. She added that the moment reinforced her conviction about harm reduction: “It was, I have for years been standing on this soapbox saying that harm reduction is real, addiction is not a choice.”
Naloxone, sold under the brand name Narcan, is a fast-acting medication that can reverse an opioid overdose when administered promptly. Emily’s Hope distributes naloxone kits at no cost and provides training to community members,
