Within a year of Franklin’s EpiPen program, lives already saved

FRANKLIN, Mass. — About a year after Franklin Police began carrying EpiPens, the new program has already had life-saving results.

Franklin Police Officer David Ricci, the medical liaison for the department, began researching and developing the program after a colleague asked him why their officers don’t carry EpiPens.

While all police officers are trained in administering epinephrine, in most towns, only the fire department carries the auto-injectors.

“[Franklin Fire Department is] one of the best in the state. They get there fast; they do their job great,” Ricci said. “But it’s just a simple matter of fact that as police officers, we drive smaller vehicles, we can get there substantially faster. And when there’s an active anaphylaxis, it could be a matter of seconds that saves a life.”

With guidance from Walpole police – one of few local police departments that carry EpiPens – Ricci got to work, and, by the summer of 2023, Franklin police received their first order of EpiPens.

“There’s a need, and we have the call volume and calls for service requiring it,” Ricci said of emergencies involving severe allergies. “So, why not? It could be my child, it could be your child.”

Each Franklin Police Officer on duty now has an adult and child EpiPen in their first aid kit. Officers take them in their patrol vehicles out to calls, and, because epinephrine is temperature-sensitive, they bring them back into the building when they return.

Over the past year, Franklin has taken at least 75 calls for severe allergic reactions. Of those calls, officers have administered five of their own EpiPens and three of the patients’ own EpiPens, as well as assisted numerous people in using theirs, Ricci said.

“Just like when you do CPR and you get a heartbeat, it’s the same feeling,” Ricci said of rescuing someone suffering from anaphylaxis. “It’s cliché, but most people become cops to save lives.”

On one recent call, Franklin police responded to a local church where a man who had been stung by a bee was unaware he was allergic, Ricci said.

“Officer Cusson deployed up there, lights and sirens, administered the epinephrine perfect,” Ricci said. “He was able to save the guy’s life.”

Hopedale mom Anna Souza spends a lot of time in nearby Franklin, visiting friends and running errands. As the mother of a young man with special needs and a severe allergy, she is grateful police are now carrying EpiPens.

“It’s really fabulous to know that the people you call in an emergency will be able to come and administer that,” Anna said. “It’s phenomenal.”

Anna learned of her son Julian’s severe peanut allergy when he was three years old.

Since then, Julian, now 27, always carries an EpiPen with him for the possibility of an emergency like the one he experienced last fall.

Julian and his family were eating at a Chinese restaurant while vacationing in Maine when he unknowingly ate peanut butter that was in an egg roll, despite telling the server he is allergic.

When the family got to their car, Julian had a large swelling on his lip. While they had an EpiPen with them, they were not sure if or when to administer it.

As Anna and her husband rushed their son to the emergency room at a small, rural hospital, she vividly remembers her state of panic.

“You need to be able to convey calm, even when you’re dying inside, you’re absolutely panicking,” Anna recalled. “It was difficult to understand his speech, because he had this swelling in his mouth. We got there and they gave him epinephrine immediately, and they said, ‘Yes, this was an anaphylactic reaction.’”

“I’m very thankful to have had the EpiPen,” Julian added. “Otherwise, I wouldn’t be alive today.”

Julian knows how to administer his own EpiPen. But if he ever forgets it or cannot do it himself in an emergency, he is glad all first responders in Franklin are prepared.

“I’m very grateful on behalf of myself and people like me,” Julian said.

The EpiPens, which do expire, cost Franklin police about $2,000 a year.

Officer Ricci is hoping for a federal or state grant to help police departments with tighter budgets afford EpiPens, so that every department in the state can carry the life-saving tools.

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