Regina Leader-Post

Overdoses now routine for Regina’s paramedics

- ALEC SALLOUM

When Brett Heerspink started as a paramedic almost 30 years ago, narcotic overdoses were rare. Now it’s a part of daily life for EMS in Regina.

“It’s a fairly routine call for us,” he said. “We went from doing very few to, it’s not unusual for you to do one per your tour of duty.”

In the first 38 days of 2020, Regina EMS responded to 62 drug overdoses. In 2019, the service averaged one overdose daily, according to the Saskatchew­an Health Authority (SHA).

Heerspink, an advanced care paramedic by training now works as the superinten­dent responsibl­e for clinical quality assurance with the SHA. At the start of his career, EMS on average responded “once, maybe twice a year,” to an overdose specifical­ly for a narcotic in Regina. Even in his administra­tive duties, Heerspink still responds to calls as paramedic, attending to an overdose just last month.

While the frequency of narcotic overdoses has changed drasticall­y, so too have harm reduction responses and community responses to overdoses.

“There were some people in the home they were together,” he says of a recent call. “The bystander, they had in their home a Narcan kit, and they had already administer­ed it prior to our arrival. And when I got there, the patient was alert and orientated. The bystander had done all my work for me,” said Heerspink.

That kind of a response is not an anomaly for local EMS; it comes from an SHA initiative to get naloxone kits into the hands of opioid users or those adjacent to them.

“It works quite well. It’s been quite successful I think,” he said. “We’re really thankful for those bystanders stepping up with their take home Narcan kits.”

The SHA has handed out 1,315 kits in Regina between April 1, 2019 and Jan. 31, 2020.

“That makes our job a little bit easier,” he said, adding that the presence of Narcan and naloxone in the community has contribute­d to the survivabil­ity of overdoses. “We routinely have that successful outcome that way.”

Over the past two weeks, Regina police have raised the alarm about a spate of overdoses that have left two people dead, attributin­g the deaths and a surge in overdoses to a “bad batch” of drugs — suspected to contain fentanyl — in the city.

Both deaths are under investigat­ion in conjunctio­n with the Saskatchew­an Coroners Service. According Ministry of Justice spokespers­on Jennifer Graham, “there are no confirmed fentanyl-related overdoses in Regina this year.” Drug toxicity test results take time.

In his role as superinten­dent, Heerspink reviews reports from Regina paramedics who respond to overdose calls.

“There’s more than two (deaths),” Heerspink said.

The responsibi­lity to classify the deaths rests with the coroner, but he said the reports he’s seen make him suspect those classifica­tions will end up showing there’s been more than two overdose deaths likely related to fentanyl this year in Regina.

From the reports he’s reviewed, Heerspink said the problem isn’t localized to one neighbourh­ood, or the demographi­c connotatio­ns of one area of Regina versus another.

“This is something that’s taking place in all areas of the city.”

The Saskatchew­an Coroners Service “Drug Toxicity Deaths” report breaks down death investigat­ions in which the cause of death was found to be entirely or partially due to drugs. Statistics from the past three years are preliminar­y, “given that not all death investigat­ions for these years have been concluded.”

Still, in 2019 Regina saw 15 deaths attributed to fentanyl overdoses, accounting for more than half of the 27 fentanyl overdoses recorded provincewi­de.

“There has been a steady increase in narcotic overdoses over the past couple years,” said Lisa Thomson, SHA spokespers­on.

 ?? BRANDON HARDER ?? A paramedic unloads a stretcher during a call in the North Central neighbourh­ood on Thursday afternoon. Once a rarity, Regina EMS can now expect to be summoned to calls for overdoses involving illicit street drugs during every shift, a longtime paramedic says.
BRANDON HARDER A paramedic unloads a stretcher during a call in the North Central neighbourh­ood on Thursday afternoon. Once a rarity, Regina EMS can now expect to be summoned to calls for overdoses involving illicit street drugs during every shift, a longtime paramedic says.

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