On January 29, 2018 about 1540 hours, officers responded to
the local Walmart store on Farmington Avenue for a medical call. It was reported
that a female was unconscious in the bathroom. Two officers arrived at scene and
found several people standing around an unconscious female. One of the persons with
the victim was Nahira Lopez, a store employee. The officer reported the victim
was pale, cyanotic, and her breathing was labored. One of the officers began to
ventilate the victim with a bag-valve mask. Within several seconds, the victim seemed
to be revived. She began breathing normally, stood up, and began to talk to the
officers. Unbeknownst to the
officers, Nahira had provided medical care to the victim before police arrived.
When Walmart became aware of the unconscious female, Nahira voluntarily entered
the bathroom and checked the victim. Nahira confirmed the victim was
unresponsive. Another store customer had a Narcan kit and offered it to Nahira
to use. With no training in the use of a Narcan kit, Nahira was able to
assemble the kit and deploy the medicine into the victim’s nose. Shortly after,
the victim awakened after police arrived. Officer Timothy O’Brien noted in his
report that Nahira has no formal medical training but intervened on her own to
help a stranger in need of medical care. Without Nahira’s quick and decisive
actions, the victim would have likely died before police arrived. Therefore, the
Bristol Police Department is awarding Nahira Lopez the Citizen Lifesavings Commendation.