The North Bay Parry Sound District Health Unit partners with local agencies to offer ongoing intra-nasal naloxone training to the general public as well as interested organizations and businesses.
Below is a list of questions asked during past naloxone trainings:
Yes, it is best to consider all potential individuals as suspected of having COVID-19 as a precaution. This would be the case when you are interacting with anyone in public. Using personal protection equipment (PPE) and/or following proper precautions such as hand washing, avoiding touching your face, and physical distancing, when possible, are recommended when administering naloxone during COVID-19. These are the same measures you would follow when in any public setting.
Yes, the Ministry of Health, Public Health Ontario, and the Canadian Red Cross have all recommended that rescue breaths not be performed after administering naloxone during the COVID-19 pandemic.
As far as friends/family members go, it would be up to the person providing rescue breaths if they feel comfortable doing so. The recommendation however, in general, is not to perform rescue breaths during COVID-19. Rescue breaths (as well as chest compressions) were part of naloxone training prior to COVID-19.
First aid protocols for an unresponsive person during COVID-19.
If an opioid overdose is suspected, then yes, it would be best to administer naloxone even if you are not 100% sure why the individual is unconscious. This will not harm or hurt the individual since naloxone only acts on opioid receptors of the brain. If someone is unconscious for another reason and is given naloxone this will not harm them.
When responding to an unconscious person, clues such as overdose signs/symptoms, drug paraphernalia, track marks and/or drug baggies, may indicate that the individual is overdosing. In many cases, the individuals responding to an unconscious person will have witnessed the person collapsing and may be aware of the potential reason for the unresponsive person.
It is important to remember that naloxone takes 2-3 minutes to work. This provides the individual who is administering naloxone time to take a step back should the individual who has overdosed become aggressive. After naloxone is administered and the individual becomes alert, it is important to keep them calm and explain what has happened, as well as discourage them from using drugs because this could cause overdose to recur once the naloxone wears off.
The response to this question is dependent on the level of training that the responding individual has had.
“As per guidance provided by Ontario’s Opioid Emergency Task Force, all publicly funded naloxone kits contain an instructional insert that advises that if an opioid overdose is suspected/known, the administration of naloxone comes before the provision of chest compressions/rescue breathing. These instructions are intended for lay persons who are responding to an opioid overdose, the majority of whom are not formally trained in first aid, nor have access to a defibrillator. Lay-responder training is designed to be brief and low-threshold.”- Ministry of Health
As mentioned above, the lay individual often does not have formal first aid training or access to an automated external defibrillator (AED). Many overdoses occur in the home or on the street where an AED is not easily accessible. In addition, the tools or equipment that the lay individual has access to is different than what trained medical professionals have (e.g., artificial airways and manual ventilation tools) to improve airway functioning. Naloxone training was designed with these considerations in mind so it is recommended that the lay individual administer naloxone prior to attempting CPR.
Agencies and/or programs that have procedures or protocols that vary from the order followed in the community naloxone training (i.e., step 3- administer naloxone; step 4- provide chest compressions and rescue breaths) should follow the recommended procedures or protocols of their agency and/or program (i.e., defibrillation first).
If you have determined that a person is unconscious and not breathing, begin CPR immediately. Push hard and fast on the chest, and perform cycles of 30 chest compressions to two rescue breaths.
Below are a few resources on providing CPR:
- Video
- First aid protocols for an unresponsive person during COVID-19.
Contact Us
North Bay Parry Sound District Health UnitNorth Bay
345 Oak Street West
Parry Sound
90 Bowes St, 2nd Floor, Suite 201
Phone 705-474-1400
Toll Free 1-800-563-2808
Email Us