STRYKER, Ohio — Seven people are now receiving medical care after exposure to fentanyl at the Northwest Ohio Juvenile Detention Center in Stryker, Ohio.
The seven who were exposed--four juvenile detainees and three guards--are in good condition and currently under the care of medical staff at different facilities.
However, it's unknown how the drug got into the air ducts in the first place.
Dennis Sullivan, the executive director of the Corrections Center of Northwest Ohio (CCNO) says they won't be certain of that until the investigation is complete.
Sullivan said that a little after 8 p.m. Sunday night multiple people started displaying symptoms of exposure to a drug. He received a call from the Williams County sheriff asking for help in evacuating the juvenile detention center.
CCNO staff brought both guards and detainees to three different local hospitals, and immediately ordered that the detention center be thoroughly cleaned. Once the detainees were cleared, they were moved over to CCNO and given separate housing away from the adults as they continue to be treated and the juvenile center remains locked down.
While the question of how the drugs made it into the air is still being investigated, the director said it's not too hard for them to imagine a scenario for how something like this would happen.
"It's only speculation, but there's always the potential that someone brought it in. Typically fentanyl can be laced in other drugs and if it's a powdery substance, and once you disturb that contraband, that substance can get up in the air handlers. It can get up in the vent system. Then it can affect several other people as well," Sullivan said.
Sullivan said that all seven people exposed are out of the hospital with no apparent issues, and said they are all very lucky.
WTOL 11 spoke to Tamme Smith, an educator from Lucas County's Drug Abuse Response Team, to learn exactly what the seven experienced when they were exposed to the dangerous drug.
"You're going to notice that the respiratory, or breathing, is going to change in that person. So it becomes more shallow, it becomes lessened. To the point where there is possibly no breathing taking place at all. You're going to notice that the lips and nail beds kind of start to turn blue and ashed. And of course the last thing you're going to notice is that person is unresponsive," Smith said.
While the investigation inside Juvenile Detention Center is still ongoing, Sullivan said he imagines they will change their rules to make sure something like this never occurs again. He added whoever brought the fentanyl will face a sentence as serious as the drugs they released.