On Thursday, a 2-year-old was taken to the hospital after swallowing a fentanyl pill he discovered while playing in a Tacoma park.
Tacoma Police Department said the incident was reported in the 3100 block of South Madison Street, at Oakland Madrona Park. They claimed that the child and his parents were at the Oakland Madrona Playfield just before 1 p.m. on Thursday.
It was reported shortly before one o’clock. when the boy’s mother observed he started acting drowsy and out of character, according to police spokeswoman Shelbie Boyd. While making a 911 call, the mother started driving the youngster to a nearby hospital. Boyd said that Officer Masyih Ford met the parent near South 15th Street and Court D after hearing the call on the radio.
Prior to the Tacoma Fire Department’s arrival and the administration of Narcan, the brand name for naloxone, an emergency overdose therapy, Ford started performing CPR on the child. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention claim that fentanyl can be fatal in even small amounts.
“She handed me her child, and he was unresponsive and limp in my arms. He was blue in the face,” said Officer Masyih Ford. “I immediately knew something was wrong, so I put him on the ground in recovery position and I started CPR. Then I asked the mom what did he take, is he choking on something, because I checked his airway, and it was clear.”
The child’s parents had the resources to gather what the child had consumed. “She wrapped it in an empty wrapper and showed it to me, and it was M30 which is a synthetic Percocet or fentanyl pills that are commonly seen in our region,” said Officer Ford. “It looks like it was bitten in half, so I immediately knew that the kid was suffering from a fentanyl overdose.”
The child was then brought to Mary Bridge Children’s Hospital after receiving first aid from medics.
The youngster is anticipated to make a full recovery with no long-term complications, Officer Ford said.
In order to alert them of the incident Officer Ford called Metro Parks and request that they search the area for pills. On Thursday and Friday morning, workers from Metro Parks Tacoma thoroughly swept the park to make sure the area was free of dangers.
The officer who reacted to the medical emergency was thanked by Tacoma Police Chief Avery Moore.
Police spokesperson Shelbie Boyd said, “I truly believe that Officer Ford saved this kid’s life.”
Yesterday Ofcr Ford responded to a child having a medical emergency. Ford arrived & began CPR. He learned the child found a pill at a park & ingested it. Seeing it was fentanyl, told TFD, & Narcan was given. Child is stable. Chief Moore met with Ford, to thank him for his actions pic.twitter.com/jBquZW9gUh
— Tacoma Police Department (@TacomaPD) August 5, 2022
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Sources: Westernjournal, Komonews, Yahoo