The ten-month old baby of a San Francisco tech boss overdosed this week after ingesting fentanyl he was found while crawling around the neighborhood playground.
On Tuesday afternoon, Ivan Matkovic, 35, was called by his twin sons’ nanny to the neighborhood George Moscone playground where he found paramedics standing around his child, holding a mask connected to a breathing apparatus over his son’s mouth.
The nanny had previously called Matkovic to inform him that one of his children was not breathing properly while at the playground and she was going to begin administering CPR and call 911.
When paramedics saw there was nothing obstructing the baby Sena’s ability to breathe, they administered Narcan – a drug used to reverse the effects of a fentanyl overdose.
Within seconds, according to an account of the incident in the San Francisco Chronicle, the baby began breathing and crying again.
Medical staff at the hospital later ran tests that confirmed baby Matkovic had fentanyl in his system. After the child was observed for more than six hours, the family was sent home close to midnight.
Ivan Matkovic and his 10-month-old son Sena, who accidentally ingested fentanyl at a neighborhood playground on Tuesday
Baby Sena one day after his fentanyl incident is again playing with balls in his backyard. His parents now have a new health threat to worry about
Matkovic, his wife, twin sons and their nanny recount the ordeal, which occurred Tuesday afternoon at a local park in their neighborhood
The parents say it is not unusual for their inquisitive young sons to play with things they find on the ground and put leaves in their mouths. No drug paraphernalia was found at the local park where Sena overdosed
The child’s nanny, Wendy Marroqui, recalls realizing the child had become dizzy and was having trouble breathing. She soon made the decision to administer CPR and call an ambulance
The family nanny told Matkovic his son had been crawling in the grass, putting leaves in his mouth, as was his usual way. She said she hadn’t seen what the baby touched or ingested and didn’t notice any drugs, foil or needles in the area.
The city’s department of Parks and Recreation said they did not find any drugs or paraphernalia after a search of the park that evening. The most likely exposure, police determined, was powder, which is hard to find.
Matkovic, the founder of IT and consulting tech company Spendgo, says fentanyl exposure is something he and his wife will now have to add to the list of health threats to his young family, and others should take the incident into consideration as well.
‘I just wanted to let people know that along with coyotes and RSV and COVID, this is another thing to add to your checklist of things that you’re looking out for, because we weren’t,’ he said.
Authorities say they are coordinating to ensure the family area remains free of drug use and paraphernalia that may contaminate the playground.
Matkovic told the outlet that he does not believe his family’s nanny, or anyone else at the park, had fentanyl or gave it to the child.
‘Really if it wasn’t for her and her quick reactions, we might not be with our son today,’ said Matkovic the nanny’s quick decision making during the crisis.
It’s not just dealers and people you don’t know who are impacted by this, it’s tipping over into the broader populace, and it feels like it needs that kind of COVID-like attention, and it doesn’t seem like it’s getting that ,’ he said.
Matkovic, the CEO and founder of IT consulting and tech company Spendgo, choked up as he recounted the moment paramedics were helping his son breathe
Naloxone – commonly sold as Narcan – is a lifesaving drug that can reverse the effects of an opioid overdose as it is happening. Often, however, drug users are taking illicit substance alone, meaning there is no one onsite to administer the drug
One nanny at the playground on Wednesday told the outlet that the incident, although horrifying, was hardly a surprise given the realities of life in San Francisco.
‘You literally have to watch their every move,’ she said. ‘Does it make me nervous? Yeah. But we found glass over there…syringes…I don’t let kids go into the bushes.’
‘Every playground has these problems,’ she said.
Fentanyl, a synthetic opioid many times more powerful than heroin, is often mixed with cocaine and other stimulants and consumed unknowingly by recreational drug users.
After the number of US deaths related to overdoses linked to synthetic opioids climbed to 70,000 last year, public health officials continue to sound the alarm over the extremely potent nature of fentanyl.
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