More than fifty doctors and other healthcare professionals attended a recent educational session on opioid management.
In 2013, 10 people died of prescription opioid use in our area.
More than 10,500 people were using opioids through prescription in Hastings County that year, with more than 600 on therapy for addiction two years later.
Fentynal is included in those numbers.
The recent medical education program, entitled Opioid Management: Do No Harm, provided a forum for the medical professionals to discuss strategies to support the management of patients on the drugs.
It brought together the professionals from across the region to share practical approaches to opiate prescribing, including discussion about opioid dependence and alternative therapies.
Representatives in attendance were from the LHIN, Hastings-Quinte Paramedic Service, Belleville Police Intelligence-Street Crime Unit, two Kingston agencies, Central Hastings Family Health Team and Hastings Prince Edward Heath Unit.
Presentations addressed trends and specifics of the crisis, an overview of local paramedic opioid overdose response trends, the illicit use of opioids in our region, and strategies and resources to help physicians manage patients who suffer from non-cancer related pain.
