By Brittney Matejka

Naloxone training from local pharmacy to fight opioid crisis

Oct 6, 2017 | 5:26 PM

REDCLIFF, AB. – Pharmacies across Alberta are distributing and offering hands-on training for anyone to administer naloxone for opioid drug overdoses.

Redcliff Pharmasave has given out 100 Naloxone kits to anyone interested, said Pharmacist Rob Hozack.

“People are really impressed. They’re glad for the chance to practice and understand what it is that they’re doing,” he said.

Pharmacy student Salwa Said, has been providing one-on-one training to anyone looking to pick up a kit.

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“We are training clients, or their family or friends who are interested in being able to save someone from an overdose,” she explained.

Said sits down and explains the contents of the kit with each person in detail.

“It comes with nitrile gloves, so if anyone has any latex allergies you don’t have to worry about that, it comes with alcohol swabs and then the 3 needles with syringes. Then the 3 naloxone vials and it also comes with a one way CPR breathing mask barrier,” she said.

She also explained how to identify if someone is overdosing.

“Step 1 is to recognize the signs of an overdose: unconscious or unresponsive, the 2nd step would be to call 911 and then after that check for any blockage in the air ways and go ahead and do the rescue breaths for 2 minutes. If the patient does not respond at that time, they can go ahead and inject their first naloxone dose,” she said.

The kit includes three doses of naloxone, some people may require more of the drug than others to temporarily reverse the overdose effects, explained Said.

“The injection is with the needle, and they would draw up the full contents of a single vile of naloxone. Usually the best place is the upper thigh, so if you were to divide the thigh into three portions it would be the middle portion of the thigh and then they just hold the needle down; like they would a dart or a pencil and go straight down into that area,” she explained.

Alberta had 241 fentanyl overdose deaths by the end of June 2017. The provincial government announced on October 6, 2017, $4.6 million dollars in funding for addiction services. This is expected to create treatment options for two thousand Albertans.