Jamie Sutton: 'Narcan Ninja'

Note to Reader:  What you are about to read is one homeless woman’s account of why she is homeless. This individual consented to the interview and could refuse to answer any questions. This is her story; take it as you will.

Not long ago, Jamie Sutton commented on saving the life of a homeless person who had overdosed near the intersection of Capitol Way South and Legion Way South East.

“I heard some people yelling about a guy who was overdosed and not breathing,” she related. “I grabbed some Narcan nasal spray, ran over to where he was, and administered it to him. In a few minutes, he started to come around.”

Homeless herself, she added that this is not the first person she has saved since arriving in Olympia about five months ago. “Some of the folks you see on the streets now call me the ‘Narcan Ninja,’” she said with a small smile.

Sutton was born 53 years ago in Sonoma, California, with a hole in her heart. “By the time I was 15 months old, I weighed only 13 pounds,” she continued. “I was fortunate to be accepted into a program that paid for my surgery.”

But life growing up with her mother was tumultuous. “My mother abused drugs and alcohol, and she could be violent,” continued Sutton. “My maternal grandparents wanted me to live with them and not her, and that led to conflicts between them.”

When Sutton was 15 years old, her mother threw her out. “I went to work, and I’ve been on my own ever since.”

She added that she did not graduate from high school, and that she became pregnant when she was 17. Newly married and a mother, she earned her GED and then attended a community college where she studied to work as a licensed practical nurse.

“I got a job with Kaiser, and I worked there for about 14 years,” she explained. “I enjoyed helping others.”

She added that in 2019, she used Narcan to save a man who had overdosed on fentanyl.

“I found him in our apartment complex, and so I used CPR and four Narcans to save him, but it was also the beginning of my hatred of fentanyl – it takes people over, it absorbs them,” she noted.

It was also at this time that her marriage ended, and with the pressures of working, raising two daughters and being recently divorced, she suffered from depression.

“I lost my job, my sense of being, just about everything,” she related. In need of a place to stay, she took a bus to Lynnwood, Washington, to live with one of her daughters.

“That was around 2020 when I moved up here,” recounted Sutton. “At first, it was good, but I had a hard time with life, and in early 2023, I was evicted for not paying my share of the rent.”

Boarding a bus that she thought would take her to Tacoma, she landed in Olympia, where she’s been living on the streets or in shelters.

Since arriving, Sutton estimates she’s used Narcan to save over 20 lives. 

“Everyone on the street knows I have a bag full of Narcan with me,” she concluded, “and they know that I will use it to save their lives.”