Northumberland Paramedics Chief Susan Brown. /Northumberland County photo
After responding to a dozen suspected overdose calls recently, Northumberland Paramedics are echoing a call from public health, warning residents about a heightened risk of overdose related to the toxicity of the unregulated drug supply.
The Haliburton, Kawartha, Pine Ridge District Health Unit issued a warning about a toxic drug supply circulating in Northumberland back on Aug. 13, following what was described as a “notable increase in suspected opioid drug poisonings.”
Afterwards, public health also issued an update to the alert, identifying a substance of concern suspected to be a mix of “highly potent opioids and benzodiazepines” reddish-brown in colour.
Northumberland Paramedics are now echoing that alert after responding to 12 calls related to suspected drug overdoses between Aug. 1 and Aug 22.
“We are seeing evidence of this toxic drug supply in our community,” said Northumberland Paramedics Chief Susan Brown. “And this is not limited to one area of our community – addiction affects people across socioeconomic conditions and geographic areas.”
“The drug poisoning crisis is unfortunately not new to Northumberland, but certainly when we see these notices from the health unit, it signals a significant increase in the risk of overdose and other harms,” continued Brown. “We want to further alert the community to this risk.
“If you are using drugs, we encourage you to not use alone, to use naloxone if someone is overdosing, and to call 911 immediately if you think you or another individual could be overdosing.”
Officials continue to encourage residents to learn how to recognize symptoms of an opioid overdose, how to respond to an overdose, and to always give naloxone in the event of an overdose – to temporarily reverse the effects of an opioid overdose – while waiting on first responders.
Officials also continue to emphasize following harm reduction practices to reduce the risk of overdosing – actions such as carrying naloxone, not using alone, and not mixing drugs.
A list on how to access support is also available online.
The health unit also has an opioid overdose dashboard accessible online.
According to the dashboard, there were six suspected drug-related deaths in July in the health unit’s region.
(Written by: Sarah Hyatt)
