The Middletown Press (Middletown, CT)
TRAINING KICKS IN
Soup kitchen manager saves lifeof overdosing client the day after she learned CPR
MIDDLETOWN — St. Vincent de Paul Middletown Dining Services Manager Lisa MageeCorvo knew she had mere moments to save the life of a woman undergoing an overdose at the Main Street facility.
One minute, the dining room guest was enjoying her lunch in the dining room. The next, she was gasping for breath.
Immediately, the CPR and Narcan training MageeCorvo had learned less than 24 hours before kicked into high gear.
She just happened to be nearby, doing paperwork.
“She was blue. I laid her on the ground and went through exactly what I learned. I was talking to her: “‘C’mon, honey. No, no, no. Not today,’” she said.
“It’s funny because I have a highenergy personality, and I’m always running around. I was like — Calm. OK: On the floor, roll over, arm up, airway clear, head tilted back,” she said.
Things moved really quickly.
Head chef Jeremiah Rufini, who was in the kitchen, ran over to assist as the emergency unfolded Friday afternoon.
“I did chest compressions to keep her alive,” MageeCorvo said, as she waited the less than 3 minutes for Middletown firefighters to arrive. Fortunately, the station is just a little more than a block away.
It took three doses of nalaxone, the generic form of Narcan, used by first responders to reverse an opioid overdose.
“The color slowly started to come back to her face. She came through. The odd thing is, when (victims) come to, it’s like ‘What are all you people doing here? I was eating my lunch,’” said MageeCorvo, who has volunteered and worked parttime for the facility for a decade.
She had just begun her new post Monday.
“I said, ‘Hon, you almost died,” as the paramedics loaded the woman onto a stretcher.
The woman suffered a heroin overdose, according to executive Director MaryEllen Shuckerow. “She was eating lunch and just went down, slumped over in her chair.”
The woman is now doing well, she said.
“Thank goodness my staff cares enough to offer that training,” which, it turns out, wasn’t so easy for MageeCorvo to attend that day. She was very busy coordinating hair cuts for the male guests that day.
The training takes 20 minutes.
In hindsight, MageeCorvo realized she had a strong feeling about making sure she took the training, because she could have put it off.
“It doesn’t discriminate. That’s somebody’s mother, sister, daughter, aunt,” said MageeCorvo, who is now going to mandate every member of her staff undergo training.
“My exhusband is a drummer and said I never had any rhythm. There I was, ‘Stayin’ Alive,’” she said.
The drug culture in the North End of Middletown is “pretty pervasive,” according to Shuckerow, who took over the nonprofit organization owned by the Diocese of Norwich 11 weeks ago.
“People are dying. If we didn’t have that Narcan, the girl would have been dead. No questions about it. She stopped breathing. By the
“The color slowly started to come back to her face. She came through. The odd thing is, when (victims) come to, it’s like ‘What are all you people doing here? I was eating my lunch.’ ... “I said, ‘Hon, you almost died.’ ” Lisa MageeCorvo, St. Vincent de Paul Middletown
time the EMTs got there, they’d have a hard time bringing her back,” Shuckerow said.
St. Vincent de Paul Middletown is among agencies on the front line of the epidemic.
Last year, more than 1,000 deaths were attributed to opioid abuse in Connecticut.
“This year, we are on track to have more. For a while, it looked like we were moving in the right direction and deaths were decreasing, but, unfortunately, that’s not the case for our state,” Lt. Gov. Susan Bysiewicz said during an opioid forum at Middlesex Hospital in early October.
The National Institute on Drug Abuse offers warning signs of an opioid overdose
⏩ Face is extremely pale and/or clammy to the touch
⏩ Body is limp
⏩ Fingernails or lips have a blue or purple cast
⏩ Vomiting or making gurgling noises
⏩ Cannot be awakened from sleep or unable to speak
⏩ Breathing very slow or stopped
⏩ Heartbeat very slow or stopped
“The North End is pretty ripe with drug culture,” said Shuckerow, who has partnered with the Police Department in trying to stop drug dealers by arresting them.
“It’s happening all over the place,” said Shuckerow, who gathered everyone in the dining room for a talk afterward — discussing the gravity of what they had just witnessed.
Shuckerow’s philosophy takes a hard line, but tempers that with compassion
“For a while, it looked like we were moving in the right direction ... but, unfortunately, that’s not the case for our state.”
— as long as people are willing to change. She’s adamant about empowering the homeless and others who have fallen down on their luck so they can pull themselves out of their situation.
Slowly, that approach is taking hold, Shuckerow said. Meanwhile, she’s not afraid to speak her mind.
“Talking to these drug dealers, keeping it off the streets, because it’s killing people. ‘Say no to drugs,’ ” she tells everyone she possibly can.
The state Department of Health and Human Services offers information on resources to help those addicted to drugs and other substances at ct.gov/dmhas.