by James Matthews
Fentanyl is a danger for drug users and it can be for the professionals working to help them.
That was an interesting detail described by Don Kruger, the Minden Hills fire chief, in his report to township council during its Nov. 14 meeting.
Mayor Bob Carter asked Kruger if firefighters carry naloxone in their vehicles. Naloxone, often referred to by the trade name Narcan, is a fast-acting medication that reverses the effects of opioids overdoses.
“We do carry the naloxone but at this point we have not received the full certification training to administer it to the public,” Kruger said. “We carry it for our own safety.”
Members of the public can go to a pharmacy to obtain a naloxone kit and freely administer it. But, as health care professionals, firefighters need to be certified.
“At this point in time, we carry it just for our own personal safety,” he said. “If for example we are performing CPR on an individual and they have overdosed and one of the firefighter were to be exposed to something like fentanyl we carry the naloxone to administer to the firefighter.”
Fentanyl, a synthetic opioid, is 100 times more potent than morphine and it can often be absorbed into a person’s body through skin contact or inhalation. That’s why health care professionals wear protective gloves when even handling the drug.
“But we will be moving forward with the training,” Kruger said.
The exchange began when a councillor asked about a category of fire department activity referred to in a September report as simply “Public Assist.” The report indicated there had been 30 such calls to the fire department that month.
“There is no definition for a Public Assist,” Kruger said.
It simply refers to an instance when firefighters had help members of the public or another first response agency in the community such as paramedics or police.
“That is kind of a miscellaneous category, if you will,” he said. “Something that can’t be defined specifically, it goes under that category.”
For various reasons the Haliburton County Paramedic Service is now residing locally more often because of a decrease in medical transports to other hospitals, Carter said.
“Have you noticed that the ambulances are more available and you don’t have to be the one responding?” Carter said.
“That’s difficult to say,” Kruger said. “We do still respond to a large quantity of medical assist calls.”
However, paramedics are at the scene ahead of firefighters nine times out of 10, he said.
“But we are required typically for a lift-assist,” Kruger said. “A patient that is maybe too large for just the two paramedics to handle. Or gaining access to building, to rooms.”
Just recently, firefighters were asked by paramedics to remove a toilet so a patient could easily and safely be removed from the room.
“As far as the numbers go, they have not decreased as of yet,” Kruger said.
The province is moving to a new dispatch system and Kruger said there’s hope that new system will decrease the number of medical calls to which the fire department responds.
