Family Guidance Center employee helps save a life with Narcan

By Kyle Schmidt

A second chance is never guaranteed, but a Family Guidance Center employee equipped with Narcan was able to offer one to a man who had overdosed near her work.

Miranda Humbert, case manager at the Family Guidance Center, was leaving work one night when she noticed somebody on the ground.

“Somebody walking down asking or hollering if anybody had Narcan. And in a moment, like, I knew exactly where to get it,” Humbert said. “I keep some in my car so I knew I needed to take action right in that moment and took off running to my car to get the Narcan. And when I ran up the street where they were, there was somebody that overdosed.”

She didn’t know who the man was, but she wasted no time trying to help him. Other bystanders were there as well, and someone had already administered one dose of Narcan prior to her arrival, and 911 was called. He regained consciousness after Humbert administered Narcan.

“We’re kind of just going to calm down. Once he found out the cops were on the way, he got very paranoid and took off in the car,” Humbert said. “We were trying to, educate them, like, ‘Hey, you just need further medical help and make sure you’re okay.’”

Narcan is important in these kinds of situations, and thankfully, she was prepared for the moment.

“Think it’s just important to make sure that people have Narcan on them and are prepared to, like, know how to administrate it,” Humbert said. “If you don’t know how to use it, go ahead, look at it. It tells you exactly how to use it and kind of just be prepared. So like when you’re in that situation, you don’t have to think too much about what you’re doing and just be able to use it.”

Humbert wants to remind people to keep an open mind surrounding those who are using drugs.

“I think just being more understanding of people, like, you never know what people are going through,” Humbert said. “I think as a community, it is important to not judge somebody what they’re going through, but be able to help them when they’re needing it.”

While Humbert said she believes she was just in the right place at the right time, she does hope the stranger she helped is getting better.

“I hope that, maybe in that instance, that he was able to realize, ‘Hey, like, maybe I need help doing, you know, with further treatment,’” Humbert said. “Whether it’s substance use, mental health or just, you know, staying away from a certain kind of people.”