Erie County Sheriff & Deputy To Get Statewide Recognition For Helping To Save Lives

The Erie County Sheriff's office is getting state-wide recognition for equipping deputies with the life-saving antidote, Narcan.

Erie County Sheriff Deputy Chuck Klenk, whose son is a recovered heroin addict, made it his mission to make Narcan readily available in Erie county.

Narcan can be administered like as a nasal spray, and can instantly reverse the effects of an opiate overdose.

His efforts, along with Sheriff John Loomis, were critical to ensuring Erie deputies had the life-saving overdose antidote on-hand.

And on March 1st, the Pennsylvania Department of Drug and Alcohol will recognize police department's across the Commonwealth, for their efforts in using Narcan, and reducing deadly overdoses.

In just over a year, just in Pennsylvania, police have saved nearly 600 lives with Narcan, "It's outstanding, outstanding and it proves to 600 individuals that they've been given a second chance at life," said Sheriff Loomis. "It's something we hope we never run across, an individual that's overdosing, but if we do we'll have the tools available to possibly save their life," Loomis added.

Klenk says Erie County Sheriffs Deputies haven't had to use Narcan yet.

And he would like to see many more law enforcement agencies across the Commonwealth, especially locally, to have access to Narcan for emergencies, "To have this many saves, and not all police departments have it in the state is fantastic," said Klenk. "There are 600 families that aren't dealing with grief like I've seen with people I know, and it could've been me," Klenk added.

Sheriff Loomis and Deputy Klenk will be among the 150 officers recognized, next Tuesday in Harrisburg.