Opioid overdoses taking a toll on families
When Jim Carson overheard a nurse call his grandson a druggie, he felt extreme shame and anger.
“In this moment, I regretted ever using the word druggie in my profession and I’m sure I used it a lot,” said Carson, a retired police officer.
Carson shared his grandson Keagen’s story of addiction during an opioid crisis awareness event at the Selwyn Outreach Centre Wednesday night.
Keagan died of a fentanyl overdose last year after being sober for 72 days. He was 21 years old.
“I’ll probably grieve for the rest of my life,” Carson said.
He also relives the moments where he thinks he could have done more to help save his grandchild. The “what ifs” are endless.
The former police officer told Keagen’s story to more than 200 people in the auditorium, while his family sat in the front row.
Carson was one of three speakers at the event. He was joined by a doctor and a paramedic.
Fentanyl is an opioid narcotic prescribed to cancer patients for severe pain. It’s up to 100 times stronger than morphine and is often added to illegal drugs without people knowing.
In Peterborough, 60 per cent of illicit drugs are contaminated with fentanyl, according to city police.
Keagen battle with addiction started at 14 with booze and pot. He was in and out of the city hospital, rehab and detox.
He’d get well, then stumble. Then he’d get well and stumble again.
It was during one of his trips to the Peterborough Regional Health Centre (PRHC) for help that his grandfather overheard the nurses refer to Keagan as a “druggie.”
“It was demeaning and inconsiderate. Keagan was now defined by that word — the feeling was that he was less of a person,” said Carson.
After finally hitting rock bottom in his early 20s, Keagen started to return to the “caring and compassionate” person his grandfather knew.
He got his old cooking job back and started to look healthier and treat his family well again.
Then one day after work, he relapsed and died.
Over the last eight years, fentanyl and synthetic fentanyl-related deaths have increased more than 800 per cent in the Central East Local Health Integration Network. The network spans from Bancroft to Scarborough and includes Peterborough.
Peterborough city and county have the fourth highest rate of opioid-related hospitalizations in Ontario and the fourth highest rate of opioid-related deaths in the province.
City police testing revealed that 60 per cent of illegal drugs have fentanyl.
Carfentanil, a sedative created for large animals, has also been detected in Peterborough. As little as 20 micrograms (less than a gram of salt) is fatal to humans.
Paramedic Dan Farrow, another event speaker, informed attendees about various illegal drugs, how to recognize overdoses and what Naloxone does.
Naloxone is a rescue medication used for overdoses. It’s a nasal spray that briefly reverses an opioid’s effects to buy time until emergency medical services arrive on scene.
PRHC was one of the first hospitals in Ontario to hand out Naloxone kits and city police were first force to have its frontline officers carry the antidote.
Farrow said that 34 per cent of confirmed opioid-overdose calls happened in the city’s downtown core between June 2017-18.
Yet the majority of drug use isn’t happening on the street, it’s happening at home. Only 10 per cent takes place on the street, while 50 per cent is at a residence.
Typically, opioid overdoses are males, Farrow said. Three-quarters are male and one-quarter are female. The average age is 36.
Looking at data from PRHC, Farrow said there were two confirmed cases of heroin in 2014 and 40 in 2017. There were 40 overall overdoses in 2014 and 157 in 2017.
To help combat the opioid crisis, Farrow said first responders are trying to educate the public, improve training and improve options.
Dr. Rosana Salvaterra, medical officer of health at Peterborough Public Health, said Peterborough is also battling the issue.
When the health unit noticed opioid use on the rise in 2010, it put together an opioid safety advisory committee made up of physicians, pharmacists and police to work on the crisis caused by the medical system.
Research shows exposure to opioids is often initiated through a prescription by a doctor, dentist or surgeon. Nearly half of those patients become addicted.
The Peterborough Drug Strategy was also created, focusing on prevention, treatment, reduction and enforcement. Most recently, a Rapid Action Addiction Medicine (RAAM) clinic was opened in PARN — Peterborough Aids Resource Network. RAAM clinics are proven to reduce return emergency department visits and hospitalization.
Salvaterra explained that in the 1980s, physicians were misinformed about opioids, led to believe by manufacturers that they were safe.
Efforts have been made to help prescribers prescribe more safely, and there’s a system in place to monitor the health care professionals. But there’s still much work to be done, Salvaterra said.
“The health care system needs to be better at protecting patients, at offering more appropriate help with pain management, in supporting informed consent when it comes to starting an opioid prescription and at keeping those patients who use opioids safe.”