Abbotsford firefighters' campaign aims to spread fentanyl facts
'We're trying to make it a movement' SAYS
Bring-your-child-to-work day is a very different experience for children of first responders since the onset of B.C.'s ongoing opioid crisis.
Abbotsford, B.C., firefighter Spencer Clark found out first-hand when he brought his high school-aged daughter for a ride-along.
"She saw five fentanyl overdoses in that shift alone," Clark said.
In an effort to fight the rising tide of overdoses, Abbotsford's firefighters have launched a campaign through their union, IAFF Local 2864, called "F kNOw," intended as a one-stop shop for information about fentanyl, the synthetic opioid that now claims hundreds of lives every year.
The more you know
Clark, vice-president of the union, says the idea is to provide a universal logo that organizations — schools, community associations, anyone who wants to — can feature on their website that will point readers toward credible sources of information about the drug.
"I want school districts to adopt it," Clark said. "I want the city's parks and rec department to access it. Whatever the constant websites are that people go to, I want people to be able to just click on that little logo and it sends them to the information."
Clark says he's seen the toll fentanyl takes not just on overdose victims and their families, but on his fellow first responders.
He sees the campaign as a way for the union to do something about the problem beyond just responding to the daily calls.
"We are a reactive unit — we respond to these things," Clark said. "But I want to be proactive in getting the education [out there], especially to the teenage community."
According to the B.C. Coroners Service, more than 1,400 people died of drug overdoses in the province in 2017.