In a recent Windsor Star article “Windsor Firefighters want to carry Naloxone” by Trevor Wilhelm (December 3, 2019), the issue is raised as to whether firefighters should carry Naloxone as potential first-responders in opiate-overdose situations.
This issue reminds me of a blog I posted a while back which asked the same question with respect to the police. I think the same criteria I discussed in that blog could be used here:
1) The use of Narcan should be allowed on a strictly voluntary basis within the Fire Department. (From what I can see, firefighters in general are more than willing to provide this potentially life-saving intervention).
2) There should be thorough first-class training given to all firefighters willing to take on this intervention.
3) Firefighters should be protected from all legal liability in case of an adverse outcome (though it is extremely unlikely for an adverse outcome to be directly caused by Naloxone).
Detractors have pointed out that firefighters should stick to firefighting and paramedics should be the only ones providing Naloxone. The problem with this view is that as long as the triple 911 response protocol of fire, police and ambulance services dispatching continues to be in effect, the Fire Department may find itself at the scene of an overdose before anyone else. Minutes count in the resuscitation of opiate overdose patients and the timely administration of Naloxone by firefighters in these situations can potentially save lives.
Detractors have also pointed out that the police and firefighters will become “tied up” at the scene of an overdose if they start providing medical care, thus delaying their response time to other more “appropriate” calls. In my opinion, if a police officer or a firefighter has administered Naloxone and has waited for the arrival of the paramedics, then it would be hard to argue that said police officer or firefighter had been wasting time, especially if the care of the overdose patient could be immediately passed on to the paramedics after their arrival and communication of the intervention had taken place.
In other words, there is no reason that the police or firefighter would be further “tied up” in medical interventions once the paramedics had arrived at the scene and been apprised of all relevant information including the administration of Naloxone.
According to the Windsor Star article, the firefighters of Windsor are generally asking for the authorization to administer Naloxone. This does not surprise me. Their dedication and compassion are well known. They also understand the very real opportunity of saving lives thanks to a fairly straightforward procedure that could be learned quite easily.
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