A take-home naloxone kit training session has made its way to the Border City.
The free training program is put on by the Metis Nation of Alberta and has already made stops in Hinton, Edson and Lloydminster.
On Monday, the program was offered at the Native Friendship Centre in the afternoon and the Cultural and Science Centre in the evening. The 30-minute session teaches people how to use a naloxone kit that could save someone’s life who is overdosing.
Participant Haily Villeneuve says she learned the proper steps to take in order to help someone who is in an overdosing situation.
“You check if they’re breathing or if they’re fingernails or gums are blue. If that happens you call 911 and in that time frame you check for their air using the gloves and breathing apparatus and you give them two minutes of air. If that doesn’t work you administer their first vial of the naloxone.”
Villeneuve says the gloves and breathing apparatus protect people from any diseases on the person who has overdosed. The kit also contains needles, three vials of naloxone and instructions.
At the end of the course, people receive a certificate that allows them to use the kit and be protected under the good samaritan law.
“I can use this say I’m on the street and I find someone overdosing I can use this kit and if something happens then I can’t be sued or no law action can be taken. It also gives me the opportunity to be able to help someone in a fast and orderly way while waiting for EMS to come,” says Villeneuve.
The naloxone can help reverse an opioid overdose and the kits carrying the medication are given to each person who takes the drop-in course. The next stop for the program is Cold Lake on Tuesday, Bonnyville Wednesday and St. Paul Thursday.