Pubdate: Fri, 29 Jan 2016
Source: Prince George Citizen (CN BC)
Copyright: 2016 Prince George Citizen
Contact:  http://www.princegeorgecitizen.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/350
Author: Les Leyne
Page: 6

AFRAID TO CALL FOR HELP?

Police roll out automatically to many 911 emergency calls involving 
overdoses. That scares people on the scene of the overdose, 
particularly young people. So they hesitate, or avoid making the 
call. So a lot more young OD cases die than would if they got prompt 
attention from emergency responders.

That's one of the premises a coroner's death review panel mentions 
after looking at five years' worth of overdose deaths involving 
people under 23 years of age. Various other studies have suggested 
that as a factor, but the panel said it's unknown whether it applies 
directly in the cases under review.

There were 182 deaths of youths and young adults over five years 
ending in 2013, most in Vancouver, Victoria and Prince George. That's 
182 separate tragedies that ripple and reverberate through countless 
circles of friends and families. There are many more victims than 
just the 26 children and 156 young adults who succumbed.

The panel doesn't confirm that fear of police involvement is a factor 
in delaying emergency responses, because there are a lot of 
variables. But it underlies the thinking behind a recommendation to 
better inform young people that they should always call 911, no 
matter what, when drug emergencies develop.

The death review panel was convened in 2014 to look at one narrowly 
defined problem in all the issues around youth and drugs: how to 
prevent deaths after overdoses.

Panel members looked at all 182 fatalities and found many of the 
youth who died were in the company of someone at the time, while most 
of the young adults died alone.

Most of the deaths were caused by mixing combinations of drugs and/or alcohol.

The panel "discovered that a primary issue resulting in these... 
deaths was a delay in seeking immediate medical intervention for the 
person overdosing."

It recommends educating people to recognize the signs of an overdose 
and reducing the barriers to seeking immediate assistance. Although 
most police respond, the report said Vancouver police policy is to 
not respond to non-fatal OD calls unless specifically requested, so 
as to reduce the potential reluctance to get emergency help.

B.C. Emergency Health Services should promote the idea that "the 
safety, health and well-being of persons requiring medical attention 
is the paramount focus of police attendance at an overdose."

It also wants the First Nations Health Authority to look at getting 
more access to Naloxone, a drug that reverses OD effects. 
Twenty-three per cent of the youth and 14 per cent of the young 
adults who had fatal ODs were aboriginal.

Apart from possible concerns about police involvement, there's also 
simple inertia. Panel chairman Michael Egilson said Wednesday that in 
a number of cases, the people present at the overdose felt the victim 
could just "sleep it off." In half the youth fatalities, the others 
present were also using drugs.

Since many of the victims (77 per cent) were known to the Ministry of 
Children and Family Development, he said the ministry should engage 
with foster parents and youth networks to stress the importance of 
recognizing ODs and calling 911 immediately.

Two of the deaths were outlined as representative of the problem.

A youth was found cold and unresponsive after a house party. The 
coroner found he'd used opioids, marijuana and alcohol at the party, 
and gone into a bedroom with a friend. The friend noticed his 
breathing was heavy and consulted with another person. The concerns 
were discounted after the youth in question said he was OK. He went 
to bed and couldn't be revived the next day.

He'd been released from youth custody a month earlier and had a 
history of drug abuse and challenges.

In another case, a young person was found unresponsive on the 
bathroom floor of a friend's house where he was staying the weekend. 
They'd been drinking earlier, but split up and the victim - with a 
history of ODs - consumed some drugs alone before returning to the 
home. People suspected he was under the influence, but no calls were 
made until it was too late.

There's one glimmer of good news in the report. It was originally to 
include the overdose and poisoning deaths of children. But there 
weren't any over that five-year time frame. That's taken as an 
indication that efforts to reduce such deaths in younger children are working.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom