Almost lost in the COVID-19 pandemic is the ongoing public health battle against opioid abuse.
Porcupine Health Unit medical officer of health Dr. Lianne Catton says health care workers were under a yellow alert, but the number of calls pushed it up to a red alert on Wednesday.
“Which means that we’ve seen an increase in calls and presentations to EMS, police, emergency services and hospitals with respect to opioid-related overdoses and outcomes,” Catton explains.
“We continue to reach out to all of the community partners across the entire Porcupine Health Unit to not only inform them of this potential risk and this trend that we’ve been seeing, but also to continue to collect information to prevent tragic outcomes related to opioids.”
The community partners referred to by Catton are members of the Opioid Emergency Response Task Force.
