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When Eagle Police Officer Callan Stahl responded to a 911 call on Aug. 3, he realized he would need to act fast to save the life of the victim in question. It was, after all, not the first time Stahl had been in such a situation.

Calling out what she called “swift action and exemplary performance,” Chief of Police Carrie Buhlman presented Stahl with his second lifesaving award at the Eagle Town ߣÏÈÉú meeting on Tuesday.

Buhlman described what happened to the council before giving Stahl his award, saying a call came in from the Vail dispatch center describing a man found unconscious in a bathroom at the Eagle Town Park, located at 206 West 5th Street in Eagle.

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“He was exhibiting agonal breathing,” Buhlman said of the victim. Agonal breathing is defined as the abnormal breathing patterns that occur when a person is not getting enough oxygen and is near death.

The man was turning purple and had an unknown substance leaking from his nose. There also was drug paraphernalia nearby.

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‘Unwavering dedication to saving a life’

Taking in that scene, Stahl did not hesitate in administering a five-milligram dose of Narcan to the victim through his nose.

“He then elicited the help of a bystander to carefully lay the individual on the floor, checking for carotid pulse which, although weak, was present,” Buhlman said. “Despite the victim’s, shallow and irregular breathing, Officer Stahl continued with determining life-saving efforts.”

As a precaution, Stahl used an automated external defibrillator to asses the man’s heart condition, attaching the pads to his chest and reading the machine’s recommendation. It did not recommend a shock.

The Greater Eagle Fire Protection District and Eagle County Paramedic Services arrived a short time later and determined that the Narcan was taking effect as the victim was beginning to show signs of recovery. The victim was transported to the Vail Health emergency department, where he eventually regained consciousness.

Buhlman said she was proud of Stahl for his “unwavering dedication to saving a life under pressure” and presented him with a medal that can be pinned to his lapel. It was the second such medal Stahl has received in recent years.

In 2021, Stahl was first on the scene following an urgent medical call for service regarding a patient at the Eagle River Center event venue. That person was also suffering from a likely drug overdose, and Stahl was also credited with saving that person’s life by administering a dose of life-saving drugs to the victim.

In that 2021 incident, “Officer Stahl’s response, intervention and care resulted in the patient regaining the ability to breathe,” former Police Chief Joey Staufer said.

Part of a growing trend

While Eagle County has not seen the same scale of fentanyl overdoses as other counties across the state and country, the threat is still very real, local leaders told the Vail Daily in 2022.

Between 2015 and 2021, fentanyl’s death toll in Colorado

“We are in a critical time to arm our community with prevention, intervention, treatment and recovery,” Coroner Kara Bettis said in 2022.

At that time, local organizations and community leaders began working to increase access to harm reduction and prevention resources. Local law enforcement agencies began carrying Narcan on hand with the hopes that it would save lives.

“We never did that prior, it was always, in an overdose we would probably not get called until it was too late,” said Aaron Veldheer, a detective sergeant at the Eagle County Sheriff’s Office. “I know that since we started carrying Narcan, that surrounding agencies in Eagle County, Garfield, Routt, have used Narcan to save several lives.”

On Feb. 17, Narcan was deployed nine times to people attending a John Summit concert at the Ford Park Parking Lot.

Vail Police Chief Ryan Kenney said those Narcan doses were deployed “either by us or by a member of the public or by the medical staff.”

— Ali Longwell contributed reporting