BANGOR, Maine — A couple of janitors a week ago found a man who had apparently overdosed on heroin inside a bathroom at Bangor City Hall and alerted police, possibly saving the person’s life.
Bernard and Lorraine Skarda, who are married, both work for River City Commercial Cleaners and are both employed as janitors at City Hall. On Sept. 13, Lorraine Skarda went to clean the men’s bathroom at about 4 p.m. and noticed it was locked. When her husband arrived to work at about 7:15 p.m., the men’s room door was still locked.
“I went and opened the door with a paper clip, and my wife looked in and said, ‘Oh no. Man on floor,’” Bernard Skarda recalled Tuesday. “All I saw was money and needles [on the floor] — that’s all.”
He called police and opened the municipal building when Officer David Farrar arrived.
“He went back to his vehicle to get this stuff … the heroin [antidote] to bring him back,” Bernard Skarda said of Farrar’s use of Narcan. “Medics came. He was still so so, and they gave him more medicine. He had a hard time coming back.”
The man in the bathroom “had big cuts on his forehead and lip, and there was all kinds of blood on the floor,” the janitor said.
Bangor police Lt. Paul Kenison said Tuesday that the person in the bathroom, who he described as a late-20s or early-30s transient, was taken to the hospital by an ambulance and was not charged with any crime.
Bernard Skarda was awarded a Bangor Police Department challenge coin for his actions, the department posted on its Facebook page Saturday.
“It is not lost on us that the person could have lost their life if it were not for Bernie’s quick action,” the post states.
Bernard Skarda said his wife “is camera shy” and wasn’t mentioned in the posting about the award. She has worked at City Hall for a couple of years, and he has been there for 19.
People recognize Bernard Skarda by his cowboy hat and kind heart, Jason Hobert, vice president of River City Commercial Cleaners, said Tuesday.
“He’s been with us since 1997, and I don’t think he’s ever missed a day of work,” Hobert said.
When Bernard Skarda got his challenge coin on the day after the incident, Farrar gave him an update on the condition of the person who reportedly overdosed.
“He said he’s fine,” the janitor said.