NYSSA – Jim Maret was on patrol on a Sunday afternoon when the call from dispatch came in.
Maret, Nyssa’s city manager, also volunteers as a reserve police officer. He was working traffic on this day, Feb. 4.
He arrived at the scene of the medical emergency in about a minute.
Maret encountered man slumped out of a car in downtown Nyssa.
The man, Chad Hester, was “in imminent threat of death” from a drug overdose, likely fentanyl, according to a later police account. Hester was turning blue.
Maret grabbed a Narcan dispenser and jammed it home in Hester’s nose. Narcan is an over-the-counter treatment that can quickly reverse the impact of an overdose.
As Hester recovered, medics arrived to take him to the hospital for more care.
“He wouldn’t go,” Maret said recently. “I told him he had died and he should go. He refused.”
Maret later was cited by Police Chief Don Ballou Jr. for “swift and effective” actions that “prevented Mr. Hester’s death.”
Hester was a transient at the time. Court records show he is facing recent criminal charges in Ada County. He couldn’t be reached for comment.
Maret’s action recently won him another honor – the Life Saving Award from the Oregon Peace Officers Association. Maret was among officers recognized for such efforts as the association’s recent state conference.
The association describes the award as for “active, distinct action rendering lifesaving techniques, to include the administration of life-saving medications or medical devices, successfully saving the life of another human.”
Maret said it was the first time in his police career he had administered Narcan, which costs about $20 a dose.
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