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All front-line Windsor police officers will be equipped with naloxone within weeks, Chief Pam Mizuno and Mayor Drew Dilkens announced Friday.
The decision was made following this week’s urgent conversion of the downtown aquatic centre into a temporary shelter for homeless people when the Downtown Mission was closed because of a COVID-19 outbreak.
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“The circumstances have changed for us,” the chief said. “We now have officers who are 24/7 at the isolation and recovery centre and the emergency shelter for people experiencing homelessness. The officers come from all areas of patrol, even investigations, and at this point the best decision, it appears, is to have all our officers carry naloxone in response to the redeployment at these centres.”
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City council has directed its fire department to start carrying the opioid overdose antidote naloxone and is urging Windsor police to follow suit, after fire Chief Stephen Laforet endorsed the move Monday.
Over a 10-month period last year there were 25 occasions when firefighters arrived first on the scene of a suspected overdose, ahead of paramedics, but were not equipped with the lifesaving drug, the chief reported. Under questioning from councillors on what his position was on carrying naloxone, he eventually came to a definitive conclusion.
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