City of Fort Walton Beach employee helps save woman from overdose at cemetery

A City of Fort Walton Beach employee, on the job for just one week, saved a woman’s life after an apparent drug overdose at Beal Memorial Cemetery on Monday, Sept. 9, 2024.

• Alexis Atkinson was trimming grass at the cemetery when she noticed a car pull in with a panicked driver screaming and crying on the phone. Atkinson approached to check on the situation.

“She (the driver) said she needed me to call 911 because her sister (a passenger in the car) was overdosing,” Atkinson said. “I told her I had Narcan, and I ran to my truck to get it.”

Atkinson administered two doses of the anti-overdose medication to the unconscious woman and performed sternal rubs to help stabilize her breathing. When this proved insufficient, the Fire Department arrived and administered two additional doses of Narcan before the woman regained consciousness.

• The patient was then stabilized and transported for treatment. Atkinson later learned from the patient’s sister that the woman had survived the overdose.

Atkinson, who lost a close friend to an overdose in the past year, said she always carries Narcan with her. She obtained the medication from Bridgeway Center, Inc. This incident marked the first time she had used it.

“It was super easy and self-explanatory,” Atkinson said, despite having no prior first aid experience. “I just kept telling myself that this is someone else’s baby and she’s going to make it out; I had no fear that she was going to die.”

City Manager Jeff Peters praised Atkinson’s actions. “We really appreciate our employees,” Peters said. “But to have somebody like that, especially in the short time she’s been here, do something like that is truly outstanding.”