While overdose calls to B.C. Emergency Health Services (BCEHS) spiked throughout the pandemic, Kitimat was among the municipalities that had a decrease in calls in 2020.
Data from the BCEHS shows that from 2019 to 2020, Kitimat had a decrease in the number of overdose calls, from 38 in 2019 to 29 in 2020. From 2016 to 2020, Kitimat had a mean of 28.2 overdose calls each year. The lowest number of calls was 22 in 2016, while the highest was the 38 calls in 2019.
Looking at the entire province, there were 27,067 overdose calls in 2020, a 12 per cent increase over 2019, which saw 24,166 calls.
July 2020 also saw the highest ever number of overdose calls ever recorded in a month for B.C. since the opioid crisis was officially declared in 2016. Paramedics were called to 2,706 overdose calls last July, which equals around 87 calls each day. Prior to this, the average monthly call volume had been about 2,000 calls a month, BCEHS data said.
The bulk of calls were in the Lower Mainland and southern Vancouver Island, as that’s where the population is most dense, but the number of calls in those areas has remained relatively consistent in recent years. Calls in Vancouver actually decreased five per cent in 2020.
But some small communities experienced a “dramatic increase” in overdose calls, according to a BCEHS news release. Fort Nelson, Keremeos, Sechelt, Houston, and Terrace are among the top five smaller communities for overdose call increases in 2020.
Calls in Terrace went up 112 per cent in the past year, from 98 in 2019 to 208 in 2020.
In terms of Health Authority Regions, the Northern Health Authority (NHA) had significantly higher overdose call volumes, going up from 1,332 calls in 2019 to 2,077 in 2020.
As the number of calls increases, overdoses are also becoming more complex and difficult to treat, according to the BCEHS statement, because drug toxicity is increasing.
“With the current drug toxicity, overdoses require multiple doses of Naloxone and the patient often has breathing and neurological complications,” the statement said.
Northern Health recently issued a warning about contaminated illicit benzodiazepines circulating in northern B.C.
Benzodiazepines (such as Xanax and Valium) are a class of medications that slow down activity in the human brain and they are typically prescribed by doctors as an anti-anxiety medication. Benzodiazepines come with a high risk of addiction and abuse and they can be very dangerous when mixed with other drugs such as alcohol.
Northern Health’s warning noted that people who overdose on a combination of benzodiazepines and opioids can be particularly difficult to resuscitate and slow to respond to naloxone.
Visit www.northernhealth.ca/health-topics/overdose-prevention for overdose prevention information and resources.
— with files from Jake Wray
clare.rayment@northernsentinel.comLike us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter
