Huron County council has approved entering into an agreement with Huron Perth Public Health that will allow Huron County Paramedic Services to distribute Naloxone kits to vulnerable individuals when necessary.
Huron County Chief of Emergency Services Jeff Horseman says this agreement will be very beneficial.
“This agreement will allow us to acquire Naloxone kits from Huron Perth Public Health and be held with out Community Paramedics and when the Community Paramedics are in situations dealing with at risk clients that may require Naloxone kits they'll be able to educate them on how to use it," Horseman shared.
Horseman says the agreement with the Health Unit will allow them to receive the kits at no cost to the county and they'll make sure they have properly trained paramedics to educate people who need them on how to use them. He notes they'll also have tracking mechanisms that will allow them to report back to the Health Unit for program purposes and to let them know how many kits have been used, so they'll know how many kits they need to keep on hand.
“The second thing that the agreement allows us to do is if the need arises or if we feel that we need to expand on that and actually carry kits in the ambulances, away from the 911 side but on the normal paramedic response side, we can do that too under this agreement," Horseman added.
At this time, Horseman says they don't see a need for paramedics to be carrying the kits or giving them out, but that could change in the future. He says paramedics have been carrying Naloxone on their ambulances for several years and are able to treat opioid overdoses, but they don't require the kits at this time. But as the need increases that could change. He adds, their use of Naloxone is increasing.
