Paramedics in Prince George have responded to 875 overdose calls this year according to BC Emergency Health Services.
That equates to about 97 per month.
Brian Twaites has been a paramedic with BCEHS for over 35-years, responding to thousands of overdose calls.
He told MyPGNow.com being deprived of oxygen while overdosing is dangerous.
“Brain cells typically start to die within four to six minutes before we get irreversible brain damage and that is another tragic end to the opioid crisis are the number of brain injuries that are out there where people are oxygen-deprived for a very long time.”
“They stop breathing and in all other terminology they appear dead and they are just a couple of minutes away from death. Paramedics really have to think quickly in conjunction with the first responders.”
Twaites added witnessing a drug overdose is often a very traumatic experience even for a first responder.
“It’s a really tough thing to describe because you are just in the moment and as I mentioned, these people are close to death so you are in the moment doing critical thinking on how can we reverse this overdose.”
Twaites like most paramedics have their own way of coping with the struggles of this public health emergency that has claimed 8-thousand lives since 2016.
“This is someone’s child. This has always been someone’s child and that’s one that I always use every time I am dealing with these calls and that just helps me stay on track because in a city like Vancouver you could be doing 20 of these calls on one shift.”
“What needs to be understood here is that addiction is a disease. A lot of the people that are caught up in this turmoil in the fentanyl crisis of the fentanyl crisis is not their choice – it’s an addiction and it is a horrible addiction. Battling it for them is extreme.”
So how do paramedics cope when they are unable to save someone who has overdosed on illicit drugs? Twaites noted a strong supporting cast and organizational resources are the keys for him.
“I am quite fortunate that I have an excellent support system through the people that I work with and also my friends and family away from the office. If I am having a rough day at work I can discuss it with both of them. But, a very important thing to bring up is when the opioid crisis first hit, our organization brought in a resilience program designed for paramedics dealing with this specific crisis.”
Prince George ranks sixth when it comes to the top-10 BC communities for overdose calls, trailing Vancouver, Surrey, Abbotsford, Kelowna, and Victoria.