The police department has received overdose reversal drugs, heart-attack revival devices and mental health professionals to work alongside officers
By Sam Lounsberry – Reporter-Herald Staff Writer
Posted: 11/04/2017 06:58:53 PM MDT
Within the last year, Loveland police officers have gained resources to revive both drug overdose and cardiac arrest victims, as well as provide residents a direct connection to a mental health clinician within the police force.
Loveland Police Department’s reception of Narcan, the opioid overdose revival drug, for every officer on the force occurred in January. Last month, the department received 20 automatic external defibrillators to use on heart attack victims when officers arrive to an emergency scene before medical personnel.
Additionally, Jesse Boyd and Brandon Maynard, mental health therapists with SummitStone Health Partners, have been embedded within LPD to work directly with residents who contact law enforcement and are in a mental health crisis or adverse living situation that require services outside the scope of police.
Our police can sometimes de-escalate the initial crisis, but the individual or the family still needs additional services, whether it’s an immediate piece or following up the next day, to see if the adjustments we made are able to be sustained or if the family needs more support to be successful and healthy,” Commander Tim Brown said.
Each of the programs — the supply of Narcan and AEDs, as well as SummitStone’s partnership with LPD — have been funded by grants from various agencies. Their implementation is an LPD effort to add to police officers’ abilities to protect the community in fashions outside the traditional duties of law enforcement.
“There is something different in law enforcement every day. That is why we constantly have to be multi-tasking,” LPD Chief Bob Ticer said. “These are just three key duties we’re doing every day in addition to everything else. Really what we’re doing is we’re responding to the community. Next year or next month, something else is going to pop up, and we’re going to be on top of it then.”
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