Naloxone kits will be provided to more than 1,000 police officers, but has no proper basic training in first aid on the force. Naloxone is a medication used in blocking the effects of opioid especially with overdose. According to Chief Mark Saunders, he made this promise at a meeting of police services board. It is a way of minimizing the rising of opioid overdoses on the streets of Toronto. In another report submitted by the chief on the same meeting, he stated that there are at least 1,200 frontline police officers with expired first aid certifications and another 1,000 officers with certifications that will end in 2018.
Availability of naloxone kits
According to the spokesperson of Toronto Police, Meaghan Gray, It is an obligation to pass first-aid training in order to become a police officer and the police force are required to use the opioid blocking medication called naloxone when needed. First aid certifications should be considered for any member of the force to be part of the deployment of naloxone. It is very rare for a police officer to be a first responder in overdose incidents.
The president of the Toronto Police Association, Mike McCormack, said that the union is concerned and not surprised why first aid training has slipped. It is usually due to workload every day. There is also shortage of staff. The officers are stressed and the priority of updating their first aid training was forgotten. McCormack recalled during his time as an officer, policemen are not always the first responders of an overdose incident. Experience in providing first aid to a victim is the most critical in emergency situation when police arrive first before firefighters and the paramedics. He has to perform CPR and provide first aid personally to the victim. First aid is one of the fundamentals when doing policing.
According to Nick Boyce of the Ontario HIV and Substance Use Training Program, learning on how to give naloxone takes only about 15-minute training session. Pharmacies are distributing naloxone to the broader public that includes the hospitals, colleges, universities and school boards and some of them do not have medical training. It is very important that our members will be provided with these life-saving medications until medical help is available.
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LEARN MORE
Learn how to help by enrolling in a first aid course and for more information, check out these sources:
https://www.webmd.com/first-aid/default.htm
https://www.ccohs.ca/oshanswers/hsprograms/firstaid_naloxone.html
https://www.drugabuse.gov/related-topics/opioid-overdose-reversal-naloxone-narcan-evzio