Officials at Hotel Dieu Grace Healthcare in Windsor want to make sure all of their staff across the organization know how to give naloxone to someone suffering from an overdose.
The move came after an incident almost two years ago.
"A gentleman had dropped his friend off at the front of our campus, the Tayfour Campus. The person had actually taken off, so our staff responded to a code blue," said Manager of Professional Practice and Infection Control Sarah Picco. "This person had overdosed, and there was a delay in being able to administer naloxone."
Staff on duty that day had to wait for paramedics to arrive to reverse the overdose, but the patient survived.
Picco said it highlighted the need to be able to respond to an overdose at the hospital.
Naloxone Kit (Public Health Unit photo)
The hospital, which specializes in complex continuing care and mental health, does not even have an emergency room. It had to build a program from scratch.
"From 2017 all the way up to June 2018, that's how long it took us to put everything together and start our training across the organization," Picco said.
Hundreds of nurses have received training, including those in its outpatient programs. A total of 60 naloxone kits have been handed out to clients.
"What we're hoping to do is bring this more out into our community with our COAST team [Community Outreach and Support Team], even with our mobile team as well," Picco explained. "There are some programs across our organization that we'd like to work with."
Training comes amid an opioid crisis in Windsor-Essex, one that health officials have been tracking over the past few years.
The Windsor-Essex County Health Unit recently released a report that said 22 people died of opioid-related causes in the first three months of 2019. In all of last year, 48 people died. The report also said an average of six people a week are admitted to one of the region's hospitals.
Picco said members of the public could get training on how to administer naloxone at most pharmacies which hand out the kits for free.
She declined to say if hospital officials should train police officers. So far, the Windsor Police Service has resisted calls for officers to carry naloxone.
- With files from Mark Brown.
