By now, most Ontario pharmacies that provide opioid agonist treatment should have received their first shipment of FREE naloxone kits.
Heather and I went today to our local community pharmacy to see what the process is like. We were treated very respectfully by the pharmacist, who provided us with about 15 minutes of counseling on how to recognize an overdose and training on use of the kit.
The kits we received included: two vials of naloxone, two syringes, two splitters for opening the vials, two alcohol swabs, two sets of rubber gloves, and a face shield to use if providing CPR. The expiry on the naloxone we received was March 2019. We did provide our health cards, and the kits were provided at no cost.
Because this is a very new program, there were a few questions that the pharmacist didn't have the answer to - notably, how many kits an individual could acquire at one time or how often a person could request a kit. He's promised to call me when he has these answers, so I'll keep the group posted!
