Powell River General Hospital ED latest to join overdose battle

Take-home naloxone kits are now available at Powell River General Hospital’s Emergency Department (ED) and at the Powell River Community Health Centre.

“As a team we embraced this opportunity and our happy to provide this service to our community as needed,” says Shona Panek, PRGH’s Critical Care Co-Ordinator.

Nurses and doctors in the ED are now able to distribute take-home naloxone kits to patients at risk of overdose, when they are discharged home. Currently, the kits are available in seven of the 14 urgent care centres and emergency departments across VCH.

Responding to the public health crisis

Within a month or two, all 14 EDs and urgent care centres in VCH will have kits available. The addition of EDs in the Take Home Naloxone (THN) Program is in response to the surge in fentanyl-related drug overdose deaths across the region. In April, BC’s provincial health officer declared a public health emergency due to the alarming rise in drug-related overdoses and deaths.

From January 1 to August 20, 2016, there were 3,775 illicit or unknown drug overdoses presenting to VCH EDs. Nearly one-quarter, or 882, of these cases were opioid-related, and 79 per cent occurred in Vancouver.

According to the BC Coroners Service, there were 23 fentanyl-detected deaths between 2012 and 2016  in the North Shore/Coast Garibaldi region, which includes Powell River.

Why Emergency Departments are key

Medical Health Officer Dr. Mark Lysyshyn says EDs are strategic dispensing sites. “People who’ve survived an overdose are at high risk of dying from a subsequent overdose,” he explains. “This makes the Emergency Department a key site for giving people take-home naloxone and making sure they know how to use it. It can be a real teachable moment.”

Non-acute sites with take-home kits

There are 62 additional sites, including community health centres and harm reduction services, where people who use drugs can also access the free kits. All sites are listed on the Toward the Heart website (choose naloxone from the drop-down box), a Provincial Harm Reduction Program.

Learn more

For more information about overdose prevention and how VCH is responding, visit www.vch.ca/overdose.