Health authority issues alert after Saskatoon records 37 overdoses in 24 hours

Saskatoon has seen a flood of overdoses in the past week, prompting a public alert from the Saskatchewan Health Authority and a direction to Saskatoon police that officers now respond to overdose calls.

The Saskatoon Fire Department told CBC News on Thursday afternoon that in the past 24 hours it had responded to 37 overdoses. Deputy Fire Chief Rob Hogan said that is a dramatic increase. Since late February, the Saskatoon Fire Department has been responding to an average of 19 overdose calls a day, Hogan said.

"[Firefighters and paramedics] are having to assist with breathing, so they're using a bag valve mask, they're doing CPR and then they're having to administer Narcan," said Hogan, using a brand name for naloxone, a medication used to reverse or reduce the effects of opioids.

"This isn't just administering Narcan, [then] walk away. These are severe life-saving measures that they're having to do, and then administer Narcan and sometimes the patient goes to hospital, sometimes they don't."

The Saskatchewan Health Authority's (SHA's) latest alert says the number of overdoses indicate that, "an unusually potent and potentially lethal substance is circulating in the Saskatoon area."

The alert describes the harmful substance as light pink chunks, dark purple chunks or other, unknown substances.

"Several suspicious deaths have occurred in Saskatoon, these deaths may be connected to the overdoses," the alert said.

Kayla DeMong, the executive director of Prairie Harm Reduction in Saskatoon, called the number of incidents an ongoing crisis.

DeMong said staff at Prairie Harm Reduction are spending all their time reviving people with naloxone.

Staff are also taking naloxone kits to houses where they know people hang out and walking the alleys of the city handing out kits and checking on people.

"This is so traumatizing, and we're all so scared," DeMong said.

"I don't even know how we've seen very few deaths from this, but people are gonna start dying, and that's a lot of people."

DeMong said the province needs to declare a health emergency and have the SHA take charge of the situation.

Kelsie Fraser, a spokesperson for the Saskatoon Police Service, said police officers do not normally respond to overdose calls, leaving it to the fire department or emergency services, but with the recent increase in overdoses, they are being directed to "attend overdose calls whenever possible."

"The goal of this is to gather that critical information that might help an investigation, identify drug sources, disrupt the distribution of them, and ultimately prevent further harm to our community," Fraser said.

Officers are equipped with naloxone, Fraser said.

The SHA says free take-home naloxone kits are available at more than 450 locations across the province.

They're also urging anyone who witnesses an overdose to call 911, knowing that the federal Good Samaritan Act provides them protection from simple possession charges when they seek help with an overdose for themself or others.