Addicts shoot up in MGH bathrooms OD threats spur action

http://www.bostonherald.com/news/local_coverage/2016/04/addicts_shoot_up_in_mgh_bathrooms
Lindsay Kalter Wednesday, April 13, 2016
Credit: Christopher Evans
LIFE AND DEATH: Massachusetts General Hospital security officer Shaun O’Halloran, above, holds a hospital-issued dosage of Narcan that security personnel carry while on duty at MGH.

Drug abusers are shooting up in bathrooms, walkways and parking garages at Massachusetts General Hospital in an alarming new tactic they hope will save them from lethal overdoses, the Herald has learned.

The phenomenon is just the latest sign of an epidemic that’s driving MGH to ramp up its overdose-fighting efforts, including equipping the hospital’s security guards with the powerful opiate antidote Narcan.

MGH staff say the number of abusers getting high on their premises is still relatively low, but they’ve seen an uptick over the last 18 months. Some are shooting up inside parking garages, while others are tying bathroom emergency pull cords to their bodies so alarms will automatically get tripped if they collapse after an OD.

“I think we see more overdoses in bathrooms and other places in the hospital so people can have that access of help around, because they know their odds are so great they can overdose,” said Dawn Williamson, MGH emergency department nurse and clinical specialist in addiction.

“They’re well aware that every time they inject it’s potentially their death, but the addiction is so powerful. It’s their way of kind of mitigating the risk,” Williamson said.

The news comes as the latest state Department of Public Health data in January showed accidental opioid deaths in Massachusetts skyrocketed by 
65 percent from 2012 to 2014.

MGH has about 756,000 square feet of official medical ground space. But including areas like the nearby Wyndham Hotel, there is closer to a whopping 
10 million square feet that the hospital is charged with patrolling and policing, according to its security officials.

Because of the amount of time it takes to transport an overdose patient to the ER, even one who is already onsite, security guards are now being trained to carry and administer Narcan.

“We think it’ll help because there are so many different areas of the hospital. It could be one of the parking garages, or a bathroom or a number of different places,” said Bonnie Michelman, MGH director of Police, Security and Outside Services.

“The time difference between finding someone and getting them into the emergency department can be the difference between life and death,” Michelman said.

Boston Medical Center is the only other facility in the area that equips its security guards with Narcan, a protocol that went into effect in summer 2015.

Brigham and Women’s Hospital last week began dispensing Narcan too, along with informational training packages, to patients in the emergency department, according to a spokeswoman.

Brigham security staff — about 150 in total — began training last week in 30-minute classes of 20-30 people each. They will begin carrying Narcan in the first week of May.

Classes are taught by Emergency Medicine Vice Chair Dr. Ali Raja, and include information on how exactly opioids work, the protocol for responding to overdoses, rescue breathing strategies and Narcan administration, according to Associate Director of Police, Security and Outside Services John Driscoll.

He said 60 doses of Narcan will be purchased, half to be carried by on-duty guards, and the rest to have on hand in various locations throughout the hospital. Each dose is about $40-$50, Driscoll said.

“It’s less of a financial issue and more of a good practice issue,” he said. “We’ve never at the hospital, or in our society, ever seen this type of overdose problem.”