The number of people who have died due to opioids in the Waterloo region in 2018 is on track to be about half of what it was in 2017.
However, that does not mean the opioid crisis is over, as the number of opioid-related overdoses continues to climb.
A year ago, 85 people were killed in the Waterloo region due to opioid overdoses. As of Nov. 5, that number was 39.
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Officials with Waterloo Public Health (WPH) can’t say for certain why the number of deaths has decreased, but they believe the increased distribution of naloxone kits, which are used to block the effects of opioids in the event of an overdose, has played a large factor.
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“We don’t have the for-sure reasons why this is happening but we suspect that the change in outcomes with respect to the overdose deaths relates to our community’s work to establish naloxone distribution,” explained Grace Bermingham, manager of harm reduction with the Region of Waterloo Public Health. “It’s a program that really puts this life-saving medication in the hands of people that use substances as well as their friends and families.”
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Bermingham said WPH and its partners have done a good job in distributing the kits to those in need.
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“(WPH has) done a great job in ensuring the naloxone kits are available to anybody who needs them,” she explained.
Rob Crossan, deputy chief of paramedic services for the Region of Waterloo, says WPH has distributed hundreds of kits to the community since the start of July.
“That speaks largely as to why the number of deaths are down,” he said.
Bermingham also said that when someone receives a naloxone kit, there is an educational aspect that goes along with it.
“Along with those kits come very clear messages around the risks of overdose and to make sure that any kind of harm reduction message that encourages people to not use alone, to call 911 in the event of an overdose and to know what an overdose looks like and to know what to do in terms of providing naloxone,” she explained.
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Crossan said that paramedics are receiving more opioid-related overdose calls this year, with the number jumping around seven per cent compared to 2017.
This continues an upward trend that saw 200 opioid-related overdose calls in 2015, 400 calls in 2016 and 804 calls in 2017. That number will likely reach over 850 calls this year.
“We are seeing 911 calls for opioid-related reasons continue to rise and so while naloxone is preventing people from dying, which, as I said, is a very positive outcome of this program, we are not seeing the overdoses taper off, unfortunately,” Bermingham said. “We are seeing those continue to rise so we are going to have to think as a community about how we respond to the opioid crisis.”
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