For the second time this year, Ed Haley, Prince Township’s fire chief, asked council to endorse the use of naloxone kits by the township’s volunteer firefighters to combat the effects of opioid drugs at medical emergency scenes.
At the April council meeting, Haley gave councillors copies of a naloxone training program developed by Algoma Public Health and asked them to decide at the May meeting whether to support the program.
The Office of the Fire Marshal would provide naloxone kits to participating fire departments at no cost, Haley said, and the AHU training program would be delivered in house by two registered nurses and one paramedic.
Haley told council that naloxone might be used, under strict operating guidelines, on patients who have overdosed on opioids, but stressed that his main concern is the safety of volunteer firefighters, who could be exposed to opioids when responding to medical calls and motor vehicle accidents.
“There’s been talk of carfentanyl around. It’s 10 or 1,000 times more potent than fentanyl. It could be airborne in a vehicle, or ingested through the hands,” Haley said. “I don’t want my guys and gals exposed to it.”
Even common street drugs, such as marijuana, could be cut with carfentanyl, making them unexpectedly potent, he added.
Introducing a naloxone program would involve some paperwork, “but not a lot,” Haley said, and the basic liability issues would be covered under the township’s present insurance policy.
Coun. Dave Amadio asked Haley to contact other rural fire departments about whether they planned to introduce naloxone programs, and report back to council on their reasons for accepting or rejecting them.
“There’s a big split on this,” said Amadio. “Not everyone is doing it.”
Haley answered that the decision is often based on the response times of emergency medical services (ambulances) in each municipality.
Prince CAO Peggy Greco also asked Haley to obtain sample bylaws from municipalities whose fire departments have already introduced naloxone programs.
Haley initially asked council to endorse the use of naloxone kits in February, but put the request on hold until he could determine whether using the kits would result in additional costs or administrative burdens.
In other fire department news, Haley proposed to boost the honorarium shared by the township’s firefighters from $6,000 annually to $16,000 to encourage a higher turnout at the fire hall for weekly training sessions.
The extra $10,000 would be covered by funds brought forward from the fire department’s 2017 budget, Haley said.
He recommended that the honorarium be allotted to the 30 firefighters based on their attendance and suggested they be required to attend a minimum number of sessions to be eligible for a share.
Haley also suggested the honorarium be distributed quarterly, instead of annually, to promote consistent attendance year-round.
He explained that he still had to determine how to allot the honorarium between firefighters, who train intensively but are called to only a few fires a year, and medical first responders, who train less often but respond to frequent medical calls.
“It needs to be equitable, and that’s what I’m working on right now,” Haley told council.
Council did not vote on boosting the honorarium, but Mayor Ken Lamming said he expected the raise to be approved in this year's budget.
Amadio, however, cautioned that the $16,000 should not become the base figure for future years without being tied to performance.
Haley agreed, saying he planned to compare future training records with present ones, to gauge the uptick in attendance.
“Sometimes you can throw money at something and it doesn’t make any difference,” he said.
Link to original article in Sault Star: Seeks council’s OK for firefighter training — again