Advocates push Manitoba hospitals to send life-saving kits home with opioid patients rescued from the brink

Before her son died of an overdose in 2014, Arlene Last-Kolb hadn't even heard of naloxone, a drug that can reverse the life-threatening side effects of an opioid overdose when administered in a timely manner.

"If we had, my son would have probably had it on him that night," Last-Kolb said. "That could have made a huge difference to our family."

She and Rebecca Rummery, whose boyfriend died of an overdose last year, formed Overdose Awareness Manitoba. The pair is pushing for the life-saving emergency kits to be sent home with patients when they're discharged from Manitoba hospitals following opioid overdoses.

Naloxone kits are available at numerous sites across Winnipeg, often for free, and doctors can distribute them on a case-by-case basis. Brothers Pharmacy on Selkirk Avenue offers the kits, as does Street Connections, a harm reduction and outreach program managed through the Winnipeg Regional Health Authority.

But Last-Kolb and Rummery say that isn't good enough. It should be free for everyone and available in hospitals for outgoing patients.

"Right now there's nothing," Rummery said. "You go in for an overdose and you're kind of just discharged."

"This is is such a simple thing that can be added," said Last-Kolb.

'Don't know where to turn'

Like Last-Kolb, Rummery didn't really know about naloxone before the 2018 overdose death of her boyfriend.

"A lot of people don't know where to turn," she said. "Substance use disorder, it doesn't discriminate. It's in every neighborhood."

I feel like right now we're focusing a lot on the meth crisis but there's still so many people who are struggling with opioids.- Rebecca Rummery

She cited an American study that found the first 48 hours after being discharged following an overdose is the time when people are most at risk of overdosing again.

That's why Rummery said naloxone kits should not only be made readily available to those at risk of overdosing upon discharge, but also to their family members so they could administer it in an emergency.

'Manitoba just really behind'

"Manitoba is just really behind this," said Rummery. "I feel like right now we're focusing a lot on the meth crisis but there's still so many people who are struggling with opioids."

Providing the kits along with some instruction from hospital staff would go a long way with families, she said.

"The stigma around substance use and substance use disorder is very high, so I think it just gives hope that they [staff] care," Rummery said. 

"If someone could take me aside and just talk to me about naloxone and talk to me about resources in the community, I think it would have benefited me and my late boyfriend on his journey."

Last-Kolb said Manitoba lacks an adequate continuum of care for those struggling with substance use. Both women say more medically assisted detox and long-term treatment facilities.

"We also believe that because there is nowhere to send patients, there is no treatment, the least we can do is make sure that when they leave the hospital they have a kit," said Last-Kolb.

"For now ... these things that can save lives without having to wait for our government."

The WRHA declined to comment on the Overdose Awareness Manitoba initiative leading up to upcoming provincial election.