Overdose Prevention Training and Naloxone

With the Ministry of Health and Long Term Care’s expansion of who can receive training and distribute Naloxone, Health Units across the province are implementing and partnering with a number of organizations to distribute to clients. PARN’s role in this expansion is to identify eligible organizations, reach out, and train these organizations on Overdose Prevention. Following the training, the organizations can then order Naloxone nasal kits and distribute them to their eligible clients.

Eligible Naloxone distribution sites are:

  • Community Health Centres (including Aboriginal Health Access Centres)
  • AIDS Service Organizations
  • Outreach organizations, or have an outreach service
    • To be considered for this, organizations must work directly with a drug-using population a risk of opioid overdose, reach a difficult (hard to reach) population where there is known drug activity, and/or, have the staff capacity to manage and distribute naloxone to clients.
  • Withdrawal management program
  • Shelters

*If interested in becoming a distribution site in the Peterborough region, please contact

*If interested in becoming a distribution site in the HKPR region, please contact PARN at 705-749-9110.

To be eligible to receive a FREE naloxone kit, you must:

  • Be a present or past opioid user
  • Be a friend or family member of an opioid user

Where to get a naloxone kit

To find somewhere near you where you can receive a free naloxone kit, visit: https://www.ontario.ca/page/where-get-free-naloxone-kit

Training and Education

When new organizations/individuals wish to become a distribution site or trained in Overdose Prevention, the training includes pieces on stigma, current opioid trends in Ontario and the 5 Steps of responding to an overdose.

Stigma:

Although naloxone is a great tool to have on hand for responding to an overdose, it is not the answer to resolving the current opioid crisis. Stigma continues to be a large underlying factor that is driving this crisis. To learn more, visit the Government of Canada’s website on stigma, ways to reduce it, and why this plays such a large role.

The 5 Steps of Responding to an Overdose:

  1. Check for responsiveness
  2. Call 911
  3. Administer Naloxone
  4. Chest compressions
  5. Evaluate, if no improvements, administer second dose and continue with compressions

For more information on the 5 steps, overdose response myths and to learn about why you’re protected , visit the Peterborough Drug Strategy.

*If you are interested in receiving Overdose Response Training for free, Question of Care Peterborough offers training sessions throughout the year.