Hamilton firefighters will start carrying Naloxone kits for overdose victims

Hamilton firefighters will now carry life-savingnaloxonekits to help preventopioidoverdose deaths.

With firefighters often the first emergency responders to arrive at the scene of an overdose, the move, approved by the board of health Monday, adds new resources to the fight against the growing opioid crisis.

In 2017, 70 people died due to opioid-relatedcauses between January and October in Hamilton.

In the first three months of 2018,there havebeen 42 suspectedopioid-relatedoverdoses.

'The sad part is we've recently seen a spike inopioiddeaths.'- Mayor Fred Eisenberger

"I do appreciatefire is going to be administrating this," Mayor Fred Eisenbergersaid during Monday's meeting.

In late January theMinistry of Health and Long-Term Care (MOHLTC) and the Ministry of Community Safety andCorrectional Services launched an expansion of the Ontario Naloxone Plan (ONP) to include police and fire services.

Hamilton Fire Departments will need roughly 66 kits, with each kit containingtwo doses of naloxone, said the Board of Public Health'srecommendationreport.

• Alert issued a fentanyl-laced'Purple Herion' tied to multiple overdoses

Last year, firefighters went to 234 calls where an overdose was suspected.

"The sad part is we've recently seen a spike inopioiddeaths,"Eisenbergersaid to the committee.

Naloxoneworks as an opiate antidote to temporarily reverse the effects ofopioidnarcotics.A doseknocks the opiods out of the brain's receptors.When applied, the antidote takes about five minutes to reverse the opioids, giving paramedics and firefightersenough time to get a patientto an emergency room.

In 2017, 1700 naloxonekits were distributed across Hamilton by the Public Health Services staff. It says453 of the kits were used onpeople with a suspectedopioid overdose.

Hamilton fire truckshave already been in possession of naloxonekits for a few months already says Claudio Mostacci, public information officer for the department. However those kits were for use on firefighters only.

Hamilton policestill won't commit to carryingthe lifesaving drug.

PolicechiefEric Girt has argued in the past that paramedics are best equipped to carry naloxonekits, not front-line officers.

• Hamilton police won't commit to accepting province's offer to free naloxonekits
• Hamilton chief won't have officers carry naloxone kits despite call for self-protection

Although officers have requested the use of naloxone kits for their own safety, the decision to supply the lifesaving kits to Hamilton police is still a no.

However,Haltonpolice are taking advantage of the province's free supply ofnaloxonekits.

"Haltonpolice will be carrying kits with them,"Coun. Terry Whitehead said during Monday's meeting.

The Haltonregion experienced an epidemic in opioid-relateddeaths in the spring of 2017 when eight people died due to overdoses.

Since then, Halton police have seen a decrease in overdoses throughout their region.

"I just hope our police services arrive at the same conclusion that ifthey can save one life it's worth the exercise," said Whitehead.