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Back to the filesSECURITY FILE 006 - OVERDOSIS GUY
Security File 006 - The Overdose
Location: Refugee Village
Time: Approximately 02:00
Incident Type: Medical Emergency - Suspected Overdose
There is something about two o'clock in the morning. The village is usually quieter by then, most people are in their rooms, and you start to settle into the rhythm of the night shift.
But quiet doesn't mean safe.
That night, an alarm came in around 02:00. We responded and made our way to the building, heading upstairs to the first floor. At the end of the hallway was a room shared by eight men.
When we arrived, it was immediately clear that something was wrong.
One of the residents was lying on his bed while his roommates stood around him in a panic. They were shouting, talking over each other, and desperately trying to explain what was happening.
They thought he was dying.
I moved toward the bed and checked his condition. I looked at his eyes, checked his pulse and breathing, and tried to assess how responsive he was.
He was sweating heavily.
Then there was something about his eyes that caught my attention. They rolled upward until all I could see was a blank stare.
His roommates were getting increasingly frantic.
I turned to my colleague.
"Do you think we should call an ambulance?"
He agreed.
We needed medical assistance.
While my colleague contacted emergency services, I stayed with the man and tried to keep him calm, telling him to breathe deeply while continuing to monitor his condition. Meanwhile, my colleague questioned the roommates, trying to establish what had happened before we arrived.
A few moments later, our second security team entered the room, carrying an AED case.
The situation was serious enough that we needed to be prepared for the worst.
But as more help arrived, the man began to calm down. He appeared less agitated than when we had first entered the room, although we still needed medical professionals to assess him.
He was lying on the bed with his trousers half off, adding to the confusion of an already chaotic scene.
We stayed with him until the ambulance arrived.
The paramedics took over, assessed him and prepared him for transport. Before long, he was on his way to the hospital.
And just like that, the room that had been filled with panic fell quiet again.
We had responded to the alarm, checked the man, called for medical assistance and waited for the professionals to take over. Our part in the incident was finished.
But the story didn't end there.
Later, we heard from other residents that the man had apparently mixed different drugs before the incident. According to what we were told, the combination had caused him to overdose.
We never witnessed what he had taken ourselves, so we couldn't confirm exactly what had happened. We only knew what we had seen when we entered that room: a man in distress, frightened roommates and a situation that could have gone very differently.
At the time, I didn't realize how familiar these situations would become.
This was one of the first overdose incidents I encountered during my night shifts at that location.
It certainly wouldn't be the last.
Working security teaches you to expect the unexpected. You might start a shift thinking you'll spend the night walking corridors, checking buildings and answering routine alarms.
Then, at two in the morning, you find yourself standing beside someone's bed, trying to work out whether they're going to be okay.
You don't need a fight, a weapon or a threat to find yourself in a serious situation.
Sometimes, all it takes is one room, one alarm and a person whose life might depend on how quickly help arrives.
The radio goes quiet eventually. The shift continues. But some calls stay with you long after the night is over.
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