Call 911 Urges Death Panel
Prince George, B.C. – The BC Coroners Service has released the results of its death review panel study on the subject of drug overdose deaths among youth and young adults.
The panel, appointed in October 2014, examined overdose deaths from 2009 to 2013 and during that period 26 youth and 156 young adults died by an overdose (accidental, undetermined or a suicide).
The review focused on what can be done to prevent death when a young person overdoses and found that many of the youth who died were in the company of someone at the time they overdosed whereas most of the young adults were alone.
It found most of the deaths were caused by a mix of drugs or a combination of alcohol and drugs and that overall opioids, stimulants and alcohol were the most widely detected substances.
The panel discovered a primary issue resulting in these drug and alcohol related deaths was a delay in seeking immediate medical intervention for the person overdosing – namely failing to call 911.
As a result, the panel’s recommendations centred around the need to call for medical help as soon as possible.
“I guess if there’s one critical take away message from the review is that if you witness an overdose or medical distress to call 911 immediately,” says panel chair Michael Egilson.
“Because time is really critical in saving the life of a person experiencing a drug overdose. The three recommendations were around raising the importance of seeking medical attention and reducing barriers to seeking medical attention.”
He says reducing those barriers should include engaging with foster parents for input on effective messaging to young people, to raise awareness about the signs of overdose, and calling 911 immediately.”
The study also found that roughly 90% of the overdoses occurred in urban as opposed to rural settings and that a disproportionate number of Aboriginal youth and young adults became statistics.
“Between 2009 and 2013, there was an overrepresentation of Aboriginal young people who died of an overdose by a factor of 2 to 2.5 based on BC Stats population rates,” reads the report.
Moving forward, Egilson says all the agencies that the recommendations are directed to will be sent out for formal response and made publicly available on their website.
To see the report in full, click here.
Comments
To bad they did not give us an actual age range.
Young Adult is generally considered to be between the age of 20 and 39, while the United Nations considers a Youth to be between the age of 15 and 24, so we have some overlap. Those under the age of 15 would in most cases be considered children, however some of course would be called teenagers. So confusion reigns supreme.
I think if you are getting confused about the age range of ‘young adult’ you are missing the point…..which wuold be Call 911 sooner to help prevent someone dying of an overdose.
Rocketeer,. If they want people to understand what age group is being effected by overdosing on drugs, then use the actual age, as opposed to generalities.
Everyone knows (or should know) that the first thing you do is dial 911.
“Everyone knows (or should know) that the first thing you do is dial 911.”
If you go to the NH web site and try to locate the number for medical emergencies you will find that 911 is not available in many of the communities west of PG.
Of 29 communities listed, only 11 are reachable by 911.
7 can be reached through the toll free number for BC Ambulance dispatch in Victoria.
10 others are reachable by a local number, none of which are the same. One would think that with the province wide 778 exchange, they could at least switch to a single 778 number, but I guess that would need a coordinated effort to answer phones and switch to a local number through a “hotline”.
Anyone travelling across the region to the Coast who is not familiar with this system and numbers will have a difficult time to call in an emergency.
Then again, perhaps there is 911 service to those communities now, they just have not updated their web page information.
For those working in remote areas and are within cell phone range or have a sat-phone they have the BC Ambulance Dispatch Centre number in Victoria which many people swear by for local knowledge of available first responder services to dispatch that can actually do something when they get there rather than standing at the base of a hill and saying “you did not tell us we had to climb up there.”
For those who do not believe what I wrote, read the report from UBCM which deals with funding the 911 system. Around pages 29 to 30 there is a section about the gaps in the system. There is a major gap in First Nations Communities which the above article mentions is one of the groups of concern with respect to drug abuse. Of course, it goes without saying that if you do not have access to phone service, and there are gaps in phone service in the province, then no matter what the emergency number is, it won’t help.
From the Report: Coverage Gaps
“In examining coverage gaps, two issues should be noted. First, the paper is discussing coverage gaps in the provision of 9-1-1 service, not coverage gaps in terms of availability of landline or wireless telephony. The latter is a wholly separate consideration: the focus here is on areas where there already is either landline or wireless coverage, but no access to 9-1-1 services.
“three areas in the province lack any 9-1-1 service: Central Coast Regional District (“Central Coast”), Northern Rockies Regional Municipality (“NRRM”) and the Stikine Region. Another major gap in 9-1-1 coverage is found in Skeena-Queen Charlotte Regional District”
ubcm.ca/assets/Resolutions~and~Policy/Policy/Community~Safety/911%20Services%20in%20BC.pdf
Sorry, I am just the messenger of the info. If anyone has any other info that is contrary to what I wrote, let’s hear from you.
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