Winnipeg Fire Paramedic Service chief wants to help thwart 'uncontrolled' opioid crisis

As the Winnipeg Fire Paramedic Service continues to respond to a flurry of overdose-related calls, the head of the service says it's ready to help if and when a supervised drug consumption site gets off the ground.

Chief Christian Schmidt's comments come in the aftermath of the Sunshine House's Mobile Overdose Prevention Site having helped 10 people who experienced overdoses within a 45-minute span due to toxic drugs in downtown Winnipeg on Sunday.

"It's uncontrolled, it's happening everywhere," Schmidt said Thursday over Zoom.

The service's relationship with Sunshine is just one of many Schmidt touted as vital to helping assist people involved in an ever-growing issue.

"We're very fortunate to have a number of outreach service provider groups out there patrolling. All of these folks are equipped with [naloxone] and available at a moment's notice to be able to render care to people suffering from an overdose," he said.

The Aboriginal Health and Wellness Centre, which has been chosen by the provincial government to run a permanent supervised consumption site, made an application to Health Canada in November to open the facility in a building located in Winnipeg at 200 Disraeli Fwy. — not far from Sunday's 10 overdoses.

Schmidt said the service has had preliminary discussions about the supervised consumption site with stakeholders and is ready to do its part, although he said it's still unclear what involvement WFPS will have.

The administration of naloxone in Winnipeg has spiked since averaging about 1,385 doses from 2016 to 2019. That total climbed steadily, from 2,686 in 2020 to 5,301 in 2023, and 3,254 through August of last year.

"In light of the challenges that we have in the community, these are the types of relationships that we need to keep building so that we can really care for the most vulnerable people in our community that are suffering from these overdose events," he said.

And they are on the rise, according to data in a report that will be presented to the city's standing policy committee on community resources next week Wednesday.

The number of instances where a fire paramedic service crew member responded to a call involving opioids has jumped sharply from the 231 that were recorded in 2016.

Those numbers remained steady for a few years before jumping to 1,227 in 2020, then ballooning to 3,400 in 2023 and 2,131 last year through August.

"It is not uncommon during points of time day where we'll have anywhere between four and seven calls or units dedicated to going out and caring for patients in the community that are suffering from overdose or some other effects from either alcohol or illicit drugs," Schmidt said.

And it's taking its toll on service members, with 50 to 60 paramedic operations and 911 communications off-duty at any given time in a month, the chief said.

"Crews are encountering people in altered states where their behaviour is very erratic as a result of the substances that they've consumed," Schmidt said. "Erratic, not rational, and in some cases their behaviour can be very aggressive and at times dangerous to those around them, including the first responders that come to care for them.

"It's challenging for our members to come out day after day on multiple occasions to provide care to an individual."

The system is under stress, Schmidt says, but it's the city's underlying issues, like high drug usage, that need to be delved into more so a better plan to combat such issues can be constructed.

"We still have a problem," he said. "Again, we need to be looking at root cause."