Places For People Living Plus service manager Carl Cundall may have saved his close friend’s life using training and a naloxone kit he got from Likewise Sheffield.

Carl got a call at 2am that a friend ‘was unresponsive’ from a suspected overdose. Carl was over in five minutes.

Carl said: “When I got there he was barely breathing, I tried to wake him up but couldn’t so “called 999, told them it was a suspected overdose and I was giving him naloxone.”

Naloxone is a lifesaving drug, that when administered can temporarily reverse the effects of an opioid overdose.  Likewise, Sheffield’s alcohol and drug service, offers free training to both the wider public and professionals on how to use life-saving kits.

For Carl it was the training he had received from Likewise that had given him the confidence to know what to do. He explained: “[the] training kicked in, I put him in the recovery position and gave him two doses in his arm”. After Carl’s friend did not respond, Carl administered CPR until the paramedics arrived and took over.

The hospital later phoned Carl and said that Carl’s medical intervention probably saved his friends life.

National Harm Reduction Lead, Jon Findlay, said: “Administering naloxone is often the difference between someone surviving an overdose situation or not.  It’s about being able to respond to a situation in a kind and compassionate way by offering first aid until emergency medical staff can attend.”

Carl’s friend was not an opiate user, but with nitazines increasingly found in benzodiazepines and crack cocaine, non-opiate users are also at an increased risk of a preventable death.

Jon Findlay said:” This is another example of how we are facing a very contaminated dangerous drugs market at the moment and we need everybody to carry naloxone so that they are able to respond to people who need help.”

Carl’s friend has since been discharged and is now considering attending rehab. Carl is keen to use this story to raise awareness of how important it is to carry naloxone, saying: “ I want to encourage everyone to get this free and potentially lifesaving medication”.

Carl has since phoned Likewise and picked up a replacement kit from the service. The training and naloxone that Carl received was part of the free training Likewise offers- anyone can do the training.

If you’re interested in receiving free naloxone training for yourself, or for your organisation, please contact Naim on naim.vali@likewisesheffield.org.uk

Huge thank you to Carl for his bravery in using his training to save a friends life and for sharing his story. Our thoughts are with Carl friend and his family.