By Sheldon Spackman

Overdose Prevention

Boys and Girls Club of Red Deer & District to receive overdose-reversing spray

Jun 21, 2019 | 11:07 AM

The Boys and Girls Club of Red Deer and District is one of 700 clubs across the country in line to receive a new tool to conquer drug overdoses.

Narcan Nasal Spray, an antidote that reverses the life-threatening effects of an opioid overdose, is now available for free to Boys and Girls Clubs across the country thanks to a new partnership with the manufacturer.

Jacquie Boyd, executive director of Youth HQ, an umbrella organization to the Boys and Girls Club of Red Deer and District, says they’re excited to be getting the spray because they recognize the opioid crisis does not discriminate.

“It can affect across the band of ages, as well as economic strata and occupation,” she explains. “We have actually been working on various plans associated with this since last year and this just falls after we’ve done other work on this.

“We do actually have our staff trained to do the Narcan injection and have those kits on-hand,” she notes, “but now this nasal spray option is the icing on the cake for us because it is a cost factor to have that in our medical kits.”

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Boyd says the nasal spray will provide a new level of comfort for staff.

“There are some people that don’t feel like they’re medically prepared to do an injection but if you weren’t aware, there are instructions on Alberta Health Services’ website on how to do that because it’s becoming so common place unfortunately,” she laments. “What the spray will do is it will take down that barrier so that people can say, ‘Well I can do that, it’s just a nasal spray.’”

Stacey Carmichael, executive director at Turning Point in Red Deer says the nasal spray is a great tool for boys and girls clubs to have on hand.

“It’s easier to administer, perhaps, and people may feel more comfortable administering a nasal spray versus injections, so I think it’s great,” she says.

“From Turning Point, we’re seeing less of our folks dying from overdose, but I can’t speak about Central Zone or what’s happening with folks that we don’t work with. We’re still just waiting for the opioids surveillance report to come out for the first quarter of this year.”

Carmichael says the nasal spray will be another life-saving mechanism for the community.

“It’s also a good opportunity to have some conversations and increase awareness with the staff working in those programs and the volunteers,” adds Carmichael. “Everybody is at risk so everybody should be equipped to deal with that risk.

She adds, “Turning Point does do training on overdose prevention and naloxone administration and we are happy to come out and do that for different companies or organizations or communities.”