Pennsylvania ambulance service asking overdose victims their preferred funeral home for ‘next time’ [View all]

[TexasTowelie]

JOHNSTOWN, Pa. — A southwest Pennsylvania ambulance service is adopting a new "scared straight" approach when treating drug overdose patients.

West End Ambulance Services is a privately funded, non-profit emergency service, whose medical personnel will soon start asking drug overdose patients to list their preferred funeral home, just in case the ambulance doesn't make it in time to save them from their next overdoses.

Ira Hart, manager of the Johnstown ambulance service, said he hopes the new program provides drug addicts with "a stark realization of what could happen."

Each time a patient is picked up for a drug overdose, West End's medical personnel will hand the patient a card designed to inform their recipients of just how close they came to dying.

Read more: http://www.somerset-kentucky.com/cnhi_network/pennsylvania-ambulance-service-asking-overdose-victims-their-preferred-funeral-home/article_bc0a364f-c625-561e-a53d-7245f5c26615.html