Pubdate: Thu, 06 Oct 2016
Source: Medicine Hat News (CN AB)
Copyright: 2016 Alberta Newspaper Group, Inc.
Contact:  http://www.medicinehatnews.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1833
Author: Peggy Revell
Page: A5

NALOXONE KITS SAVING HUNDREDS OF LIVES

Alberta Health Services data shows more than 400 opioid deaths have
been prevented across the province since the introduction of take-home
naloxone kits.

"It's important to note that that's certainly an underestimate," said
Dr. Nick Etches, AHS medical officer for the Calgary Zone. "Because
very often, if not the majority of the time, when someone uses one of
these kits, they will not report it to us that they've used it."

"So really that's a dramatic underestimate in all likelihood in terms
of the number of kits that have been used to save lives."

Since the program began in July 2015 to prevent overdose deaths from
drugs like fentanyl, 6,018 kits were given out to people across
Alberta and 408 overdose reversals reported back to AHS.

Within the AHS South Zone, which includes both Lethbridge and Medicine
Hat, 298 take-home kits were distributed by walk-in clinics to AHS
clients - a number that doesn't include the number of kits distributed
by other participating agencies.

>From Jan. 1 2015 to July 31 2016, EMS across the province have
administered naloxone to 2,370 patients who have overdosed and
required resuscitation, said Etches.

"Since the summer of 2016, I have reported four overdose reversals
from our naloxone kits but this is definitely one of the barriers to
our program - we hear rumours of our kits preventing
overdose/reversing overdose but many go unreported officially or
under-reported," said Kim Dick, overdose prevention nurse with HIV
Community Link Medicine Hat. The local organization has dispensed 112
kits, and trained around 295 community members on how to respond to
opioid overdosing and using the kits since Aug. 2015.

The local organization also offers training to registered nurses and
registered psychiatric nurses so they can train clients on how to use
the kits, as well as training for service providers and agencies on
opioid substance use, naloxone, and how to use the kits.

 From Jan. 2015 to the end of June this year, there were 427 deaths in
Alberta associated with fentanyl. Of those, 21 were in the South Zone.
There were 197 visits to emergency departments and urgent care in the
south zone due to poisoning by opioids (excluding heroin).

One kit per 1,000 population is the ratio where an improvement in
opioid overdose mortality is seen - and this rate has been achieved,
said Etches.

But there's more work to be done, he said.

"We're seeing really troubling rates of opioid overdose deaths," said
Etches, not just in Alberta but across North America - and there is a
need to give out even more take-home kits, and expand access to
medication assisted treatment with methadone and suboxone, and
continuing harm-reduction services like safe-injection services, and
raising awareness and reducing stigma.

"The other part is really the medical community has now become aware
that our rates of opioid prescribing in North America are too high and
they need to come down and that needs to come down as well," he said.
- ---
MAP posted-by: Matt