Kelowna 1-year-old recovering from a ‘possible drug overdose’: RCMP

A one-year-old Kelowna, B.C., boy stopped breathing and fell unconscious Wednesday after what RCMP said was a possible drug overdose.

RCMP said when emergency responders made it to the boy’s home on Lynrick Road, they found the boy’s grandfather performing CPR on him, while on the hood of a vehicle, Const. Mike Della-Paolera said. 

Emergency responders then administered Narcan, the boy responded well before being taken to the hospital for further medical treatment.

1:57 Kelowna 1-year-old recovering from a ‘possible drug overdose’: RCMP

The child is expected to make a full recovery and is now in the care of the Ministry of Child and Family Development.

While the incident could have been more tragic, Const. Della-Paolera said it’s rare.

“My career, I can’t recall someone being this young involved in something like this,” he said. “He’s not even walking yet, he’s probably still crawling. It shakes all of us. All the police officers that were attending there were parents or are parents. BC Ambulance, they’re parents this is a struggle for all of us to have to deal with.”

He also pointed out that the situation is more nuanced than meets the eye.

“We have to understand what happened. We have parents who made some poor choices,” he said. “They’re struggling with whatever they’re struggling with. We need to do a full investigation so we can come up with a plan to help them get over this.”

This is currently an ongoing investigation and police said no further information will be released at this time.

“Once again this demonstrates the need for more support for those struggling with substance abuse. We at the RCMP are so grateful for the actions of the family member and all first responders who no doubt saved this child’s life,” he said.