60-hour shifts and an ER scramble: Fentanyl overdoses take 'toll' on TMH, Gadsden County EMS

Christopher Cann, Tallahassee Democrat
·3 min read
1

A recent influx of patients from what law enforcement have labeled a "fentanyl overdose crisis" in Gadsden County has taken a toll on first responders and the area's largest hospital.

These patients arrived in varying degrees of health from the neighboring county, where nearly 20 people have overdosed since last Friday night, according to the Gadsden County Sheriff's Office.

As of Thursday afternoon, nine people have died, four went into cardiac arrest and six were intubated, according to the GCSO. Local law enforcement officials have connected the overdoses with fentanyl-laced drugs.

Tallahassee Memorial HealthCare, Tuesday, April 7, 2020.
Tallahassee Memorial HealthCare, Tuesday, April 7, 2020.

Continuing coverage:

"We have not seen anything like this before," said Dr. Colby Redfield, the assistant medical director of Tallahassee Memorial HealthCare's emergency services, who has worked at TMH for six years.

This influx of patients who need a high level of attention has taken "a toll" on the TMH emergency department in recent days as other operations like CAT scans are delayed, Redfield said.

"It slows down all the other operations," he said. "When you put all your resources into the most critical patients, your other stuff tends to wait longer and things get delayed as we have adjust things in the ER."

Indian Harbour Beach police officer J. Pinsker holding a dose of NARCAN. Many police departments in the county have started carrying NARCAN in their police cars to administer to people who are overdosing.
Indian Harbour Beach police officer J. Pinsker holding a dose of NARCAN. Many police departments in the county have started carrying NARCAN in their police cars to administer to people who are overdosing.

Redfield is also the medical director of Gadsden County EMS, and recently played a critical role in getting local law enforcement Narcan, a medicine used in opioid overdose emergencies.

'Gadsden was not prepared for this': Florida leaders blame fentanyl deaths in rural Gadsden County on border drug smuggling

He said an estimated 600 Narcan nasal sprays were recently acquired through the state, and will be distributed to the Quincy and Gretna police departments as well as the Gadsden County Sheriff's Office.

On Wednesday, a spokesperson for the Quincy Police Department announced that all local law enforcement agents will receive training in the next two weeks to begin administering Narcan when responding to overdoses.

"Redfield said he did not think overdose patients at TMH would've had a different outcome if they had been administered Narcan.

Tallahassee Memorial Health Care has a 155-acre campus of city-owned land between Centerville and Miccosukee roads into a research center and regional medical center.
Tallahassee Memorial Health Care has a 155-acre campus of city-owned land between Centerville and Miccosukee roads into a research center and regional medical center.

Healthcare workers at HCA Florida Capital Hospital, formerly known as Capital Regional Medical Center, treated at least one of the overdose patients.

"In serving Gadsden County for more than 10 years in Emergency Services, this was truly heartbreaking as we came to understand more about the broad reaching impacts," wrote hospital CEO Alan Keesee in a statement.

'It's been tiring': Short-staffed Gadsden County EMS workers in overtime

Gadsden County EMS Capt. Casey Parker said the past weekend was like no other.

"We have had some tainted narcotics come through, but nothing to this extent," he told the Democrat.

He said Gadsden County EMS only has six ambulances, so when more than half a dozen calls come in they must prioritize the ones that sound the most urgent — a process EMS workers had to use consistently over the weekend.

Additionally, any critically ill or injured person in Gadsden County must be taken to a Tallahassee hospital, only increasing the time it takes for an ambulance to go from scene to scene, Parker said.

"It's been pretty tiring," he said. "Not only do you have patients that can be extremely, extremely sick and dying and you also have to keep up with legal documentation."

Parker was working a near 60-hour shift when he spoke with the Democrat. He said it was not uncommon for him or other EMS employees to work such long hours because of the staff shortage that's been exacerbated by the high number of emergency calls.

"When you're running so many calls like this back to back, it's tough," he said. "A lot of us are running off of very little sleep, just to keep up with everything and at times, it has pushed our resources to limit, but we are a very resilient bunch."

Contact Christopher Cann at ccann@tallahassee.com and follow @ChrisCannFL on Twitter.

Never miss a story: Subscribe to the Tallahassee Democrat using the link at the top of the page.

This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: Influx of fentanyl overdoses causing delays in TMH emergency services