Off-duty EMT at Knicks parade helps save man after apparent overdose
An off-duty emergency worker jumped into action at the New York Knicks championship parade Thursday when a man appeared to be suffering from an overdose.
Simone Kelly, 24, was enjoying the festivities when she saw a man climbing onto the roof of a subway station entrance.
"This man was on a slanted surface, and was wobbling, swaying, and then eventually splays out," she said.
Kelly, a member of the South Orange Volunteer Rescue Squad in New Jersey, immediately sprang into action, climbing to reach the man.
"He was unresponsive, had decreased respiratory drive and the pinpoint pupils," she said. "That's usually enough we need to treat it as an overdose."
Someone from the crowd below threw Kelly a Narcan kit.
"I felt for a pulse, and I gave him a little nasal spray," she said.
Kelly and other spectators worked to save the man's life as police officers and EMS crews rushed to the scene.
"When EMS came, it was their jurisdiction now. [I said,] 'Hey, this is what we did. We gave him Narcan. I saw him drinking,'" Kelly said.
Kelly said she doesn't know what happened to the man after he was taken away, but she's hopeful her actions made a difference.
"There are a lot of opportunities in our lives where we are put in the exact place we need to be ... and maybe I'm supposed to do something with this," she said.
She is hoping to become a doctor one day to help others in their greatest time of need.
"It wasn't just my training and I knew what do to," Kelly said. "It was, I have for years been standing on this soapbox saying that harm reduction is real, addiction is not a choice."
