The Federal Health Minister was in Kamloops today to announce $400,000 in funding for St. John Ambulance in B.C. and the Yukon.
Ginette Petitpas Taylor says the money will help train up to 38,000 people each year on how to administer naloxone in an opioid overdose.
“And from there as well addressing the area of stigma is what will be done through that,” she said. “So we are very pleased to partner with St. John Ambulance. They’ve done tremendous work over the years. I know that I took some training with them personally and I was really really impressed with the deliver of the information and we are looking forward to seeing results.”
The funding will also help standardize emergency first aid training to include administering naloxone and increase a person’s confidence and experience in delivering naloxone.
St. John Ambulance CEO Karen MacPherson calls the money a game changer, noting that work is already underway to update their occupational first aid courses.
“It gives us the ability to modernize the course, but it also gives us the ability to address the stigma and the sustainability,” MacPherson noted. “So it will reach tens of thousands of workers in British Columbia.”
MacPherson says the updated curriculum can be taken by anybody, and she’s expecting mostly tradespeople to get trained to help in their workplaces.
She is hoping to pilot the updated curriculum by this fall, with a launch slated for early next year.
In making the announcement, Petitpas Taylor noted it is important to recognize that naloxone has saved many lives across Canada.
Minister @GinettePT is here. Says it’s her first visit to #Kamloops
Applauds the Boys and Girls club for the work it does to save lives. Also praises @stjohnambulance.
She says 11,577 Canadians have died as a result of the opioid crisis. @RadioNLNews pic.twitter.com/dcBWOV2eST
— Victor Mario Kaisar (@supermario_47) July 18, 2019
.@GinettePT praises work done by #BCgov on the opioid crisis. She named former Health Minister @TerryLake16 and Mental Health and Addictions Minister @DarcyJudy.
Says it’s imperative to have naloxone everywhere because ‘you don’t know where you can save a life.’#Kamloops
— Victor Mario Kaisar (@supermario_47) July 18, 2019
