Local firefighters now armed with ‘miracle drug’
To combat arising number of drugoverdose deaths, Vancouver and Surrey firefighters are among the first B.C. first-responders to undergo training in delivering a potentially life-saving anti-opiate injection.
The training, administered by B.C. Emergency Health Services (BCEHS), teaches them to administer an intra-muscular injection of naloxone, often referred to as a “miracle drug” for how it immediately reverses the effects of an overdose by blocking opiate receptors in the nervous system.
According to Jonathan Gormick of Vancouver Fire, before this training only certain paramedics could administer the life-saving drug. If firefighters were first on the scene at an overdose they could only deliver life-sustaining measures, such as cardio-pulmonary resuscitation (CPR), and wait for an ambulance.
“Normally (an injection like this) is not something that would fit within our scope of care, but ... BCEHS realized that there’s an opiate epidemic that’s not showing any signs of slowing down,” Gormick added.
Vancouver Fire attended about 2,000 overdose calls across the city last year, and while that includes all overdoses, including alcohol, “the vast majority ... were opiate related,” said Gormick.
The problem goes beyond Vancouver, with B.C. seeing a record 465 drug-overdose deaths in 2015 — a nearly 30-per-cent increase from 2014.
“We were watching an ever increasing number of overdoses,” said BCEHS executive vice president Linda Lupini.
The Vancouver Police Department has also “carefully looked into” the possibility of carrying naloxone, but decided against it, according to spokesman Const. Brian Montague. The VPD would rather carry a naloxone nasal spray, used by many U.S. police officers, but Health Canada hasn’t approved it.
Four Vancouver fire halls are expected to be equipped with naloxone kits by Monday. Any B.C. fire department can join the program by signing an agreement with BCEHS.