Hamilton firefighters to get overdose kits
With opioid-related deaths rising, public health expands use of naloxone
HAMILTON FIREFIGHTERS ARE poised to join paramedics in administering naloxone at overdose calls as the city struggles its way through a deepening opioid crisis.
The city’s board of health has backed a staff recommendation authorizing firefighters to administer the overdose-reversing drug to patients.
“I think we need all hands on deck to try and avoid loss of life for individuals out there, and to protect our first responders,” Mayor Fred Eisenberger said Monday.
Eisenberger said drug users are “playing Russian roulette” by taking potentially deadly mixes of fentanyl and heroin.
Naloxone, which can be inhaled or injected, has been used in emergency departments to reverse the effects of overdoses for decades. But kits with the drug, available at pharmacies, have since become lifesavers among those who use fentanyl to get high. In 2017, public health staff distributed 1,700 kits, reviving 453 people.
In late January, the province expanded the use of its naloxone program to include police services and fire departments, offering to fund kits at no charge to municipalities. The Hamilton fire department will need about 66
kits with two doses of naloxone in each to be effective, noted a city staff report discussed during Monday’s board of health meeting.
In 2017, firefighters responded to 234 calls of suspected overdoses, the report says, noting they sometimes arrive on scene before paramedics, putting them in an appropriate position to use nasal naloxone on patients.
Coun. Tom Jackson congratulated the fire department for its willingness to take on the added role, which still awaits final approval from council. “I wholeheartedly support getting on with this,” Jackson said.
But city politicians also expressed hope the Hamilton Police Service would soon follow suit.
“I just hope that the police service starts to arrive to the same conclusion that if they can save one life, it’s worth the exercise,” Coun. Terry Whitehead said, citing Halton Regional Police, whose chief endorsed naloxone for his officers.
Hamilton police Chief Eric Girt has argued against equipping front-line officers with the potentially life-saving kits, arguing paramedics are best suited for the job and expressing concern police could be held liable should something go wrong. The local police association supports naloxone kits for its own members’ safety and overdose patients.
In Hamilton, the overdose landscape isn’t getting any better, Eisenberger said, calling the expanded role of firefighters just one of many measures needed to tackle the problem.
In 2017, opioid-related deaths spiked in Hamilton, with 75 residents dying from overdoses between January and October, compared to 41 deaths during the same period the year before. The city’s opioid-related death rate of 13.2 per 100,000 people is almost double the provincial rate of 7.4.