MILWAUKEE — On any given day, the gym at the MLK Rec Center on Vilet in Milwaukee is filled with people playing basketball. Shaunniece Collins, an office assistant at the center, said Saturday December 2nd was no different.
"It started out as a normal day," Collins recalled. "Then somebody came from downstairs up here and said two individuals were having a seizure."
Collins said her son has epilepsy, so she's familiar with what to do when someone is having a seizure. She immediately jumped up to help.
But, when she got downstairs to the gym, the situation wasn't what she was expecting.
"It wasn't like epilepsy, it was a little different. I don't know how to describe it," Collins said.
With quick thinking she headed back upstairs to a vending machine. But unlike a vending machine for snacks or soda, the 'Harm Reduction' vending machine at the center is one of 11 that was installed by the county in August. Inside there's free Narcan, a drug designed to rapidly reverse the effects of an opioid emergency.
"Something told met o grab one of these Narcans," Collins said about her gut feeling that day. "Then I came down there, and then I just sprayed it up their nose, each nostril. Then I went to the other individual and then I sprayed his nose."
Collins said there were two other women helping by administering CPR. Their actions saved those two men's lives.
When asked what she thought would have happened if the vending machine wasn't there, Collin responded, "I don't think they would have made it."
Center Director Dee McCollum said she couldn't be prouder of how Collins stepped up.
McCollum wanted the vending machine at her center because of the number of people they serve who are experiencing homelessness or use drugs.
"It's a resource center, it's a recreation center, it's a safe haven," McCollum said. "Whatever is going on out there on the streets, when you come here you can leave it there and come in here and enjoy yourself and be the young man or the young lady that you're supposed to be without having to worry about what's happening behind your back."
She hopes to see even more of the Narcan machines throughout the county.
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