This week , CBC London spoke with the general manager of Adapt Pharma Canada, David Renwick, who suggested placing naloxone kits in public centres. XFM News took the time to dig a little more into the suggestion by talking to Jay Loosely, the superintendent of education for Middlesex-London paramedic services. Loosely told us that even though it’s good for citizens to have the knowledge of naloxone kits, it has taken the past 15-20 years just to get people comfortable with knowing how to use AEDS and where they are located.
At the moment, Loosely is worried about the hesitation people have in using AEDs. “I just think that if that’s what we started asking the public to start giving medication, people are hesitant to use an AED that basically when you turn them on will talk them through it, walk them through it and tell them what to do, I think if it’s hard to get the public to do that, I think it’s going to be difficult to ask them to give a drug where there’s no voice prompts or commands or assistance.”
Loosely says that the best solution at this time is to start incorporating lessons on how to use naloxone kits into first aid courses. Loosely say the first response they want people to have when witnessing an overdose is to call 911 as early as possible and begin CPR. He says ” I think people have a feeling that narcan is the miracle drug that fixes everything. But with an opioid overdose, the biggest thing is that it decreases respiration rate and compresses the respiratory system. So, the goal is to start CPR on these patients and keep their airway open until paramedics can arrive and treat them.”Loosely adds that it’s important to consider that paramedics do not administer naloxone if the person can effectively breathe.
XFM News also spoke with the Middlesex-London Health Unit about Renwick’s suggestion. They say that at this time they are not interested in placing naloxone kits in public places. Paramedics have access to the kits to administer if necessary.
