Overdose awareness event to stress naloxone use
Niagara is not immune to opioid use.
Opiods are being used all over the region, not just in areas with lowincome housing and high crime rates.
According to Positive Living executive director Glen Walker, hard drugs such as fentanyl aren’t only a problem in larger municipalities such as St. Catharines and Niagara Falls, places such as Fort Erie and Welland also have many users, part of an epidemic across Niagara.
“We have a lot of work to do,” Walker says.
One of the measures being taken by Positive Living through its harmreduction programming is handing out kits of naloxone, a medication used to reverse the effects of opioids which is highly recommended to counteract an overdose when it’s taking place.
Walker says close to 600 kits have been handed out by his organization in the region and have saved lives when they are administered correctly, usually in a situation where the user has not been taking drugs alone and has someone else in the room.
They are also provided through pharmacies and some methadone clinics, he says.
With a mobile delivery service that takes the naloxone, also known as Narcan, to areas of Niagara where it is needed, Walker says anyone who has not yet been able to overcome addiction should have one of the kits at their side.
“There’s so many opportunities to get them and to see someone overdose without one — there’s no reason that should happen,” he says.
Positive Living Niagara is hosting an International Overdose Awareness Day event at the Central Avenue Fire Station in Fort Erie on Thursday. Several organizations will be there to provide information for people affected by opioid use.
The event will include a vigil for anyone who has lost a loved one to addiction.
Kyle Kubik is a 24-year-old from Fort Erie who died from an overdose in June 2016. His mother, Kellie, is hoping other users, parents, loved ones and the public will attend the gathering, where compassion and awareness will be the main focus.
She vividly remembers Niagara Regional Police coming to her door at 3:30 a.m., telling her and her husband that Kyle had been found on a local street with no vital signs.
First responders tried to revive him and were successful in regaining a heartbeat. He was transported to Greater Niagara General Hospital and it was determined he had suffered a major cardiac arrest and brain hemorrhaging.
The Kubik family made the decision to keep his body alive to attempt to donate any organs possible. After about 36 hours, Kyle was gone.
The autopsy revealed he had eight times the toxic amount of fentanyl in his body, according to his mother in a recent interview.
He had overdosed at home five months earlier. That incident involved immediate intervention and response including the administration of naloxone. He was “provided the chance to live another day,” she says.
Kellie says her son was an outgoing, caring, hardworking young adult with numerous exceptional characteristics.
“Like any of us, he had flaws that he recognized and was working towards overcoming,” she says.
Kyle was on a waiting list to enter a rehab program when he died.
“And, like many others in that process, he faltered, which led him to use opioids again. But this time, without rapid intervention of the administration of naloxone, he was not able to make another day.”
She hopes the Fort Erie event will be a forum for conversation about safer drug use, the risks of using alone, immediate access to services, and how to reduce the stigma towards people who use drugs.
“This is a call to action to get informed, to get involved, and to help raise awareness so that more people get another chance at life,” she says.
“Knowing the real facts about drugs and what to do when you see someone experiencing an overdose saves lives.”
Another person who plans to attend the event Thursday is Chris Howe, who has been in recovery from addiction for more than six years and is also a firefighter. He will join a group from Windsor called Spiritual Soldiers, which raises money for the war against addiction.
As someone who works in emergency services, he is on many medical calls that involve drug overdoses. He says naloxone does save lives, and people who have not been able to beat their demons should always keep a kit nearby.
“I see it being used and how quickly it can counteract the drug,” he says.
There will be guest speakers and multiple organizations and agencies at the fire station in Fort Erie Thursday. The event begins at 6:30 p.m. Everyone is welcome.
International Overdose Awareness Day is a global event held each year and aims to raise awareness of overdose and reduce the stigma of a drug-related death. It also touches on the grief felt by families and friends remembering people who have met with death or permanent injury as a result of drug overdose.
The event will end with a memorial for people who have lost loved ones to addiction.
Free transportation to the event is being offered by Dunn the Mover and there are buses leaving from various fire halls in Fort Erie, starting at 6 p.m.
Organizers also say there is an important online survey about addiction services at http://oursurvey.ca/zzOr.