WILSON, N.C. — A librarian in Wilson County saved a man’s life late last year during an overdose by administering the drug Narcan, reviving him as police and medics arrived.
Genevieve Baillie told WRAL News that without the overdose reversal training she was given by the county, the incident could have ended differently.
Baillie was working the desk at the Wilson County Public Library in November 2022 when she heard a call for help.
“I ran up here to assist, thinking probably it was a heart or something, because that tends to be what we see, hearts or seizures or things like that,” she said.
Baillie found a man who had fallen out of his chair to the floor. She said his breathing was shallow, his eyes rolling back in his head.
“The gentleman who was with him said I think he’s having an overdose,” Baillie said. “And as soon as he said that, I recognized the signs.”
Baillie asked someone to bring her the library’s stock of Narcan.
Since December 2021, Wilson County has trained its library staff to use the drug, which can instantly reverse an opioid overdose.
“Just inserted it in his nose and injected it,” she said. “His breathing was very rough and then it started stabilizing.”
Baillie told WRAL News the man recovered just as medics arrived. She said she was grateful for the role she played – and the training that made it possible.
“The fact that we were prepared, that the program was out there to prepare us for this situation to be able to step in and save a life,” she said.
Baillie said she’d recommend the training to anyone, now knowing it can do no harm – only help.
“If you guess wrong, if they’re a child, it’s completely harmless,” she said. “The only thing it does is if they are having an overdose, it brings them out of that.”
