After seeing use in Alberta and British Columbia, the Take Home Naloxone program is expanding to Saskatchewan.
On Monday, the Prince Albert Parkland Health Region announced that 50 of the kits would be made available to Prince Albert residents, along with the required training.
The kits are designed to help lower the number of deaths caused by overdosing on opioids, like fentanyl. It’s a model that local healthcare workers say is long overdue in the city.
“For us to have this (program) available, it’s part of the service we need to provide the community,” said Steven Mah, the nursing unit manager at Access Place in Prince Albert. “It’s very important, and I’m very proud to be able to offer this kit through our site.”
The kit includes doses of Naloxone, an antidote to painkillers such as fentanyl, morphine, heroin, methadone and oxycodone, as well as a syringe, alcohol swab and plastic gloves. It’s designed to allow anyone to postpone the damage caused by overdosing long enough for the patient to receive medical treatment.
Anyone who wishes to use the kits will have to undergo a training program that lasts between 15 and 30 minutes. An addictions councilor and a registered nurse will provide the training.
For more on this story, please see the Jan. 10 print or e-edition of the Daily Herald.
