A newly elected Windsor city councillor will be asking for a report on whether first responders in Windsor should be equipped with naloxone kits.
Ward 9 City Councillor Kieran McKenzie will raise the issue at the next city council meeting on Monday, December 17th.
A report by Public Health Ontario found 16 people in Windsor-Essex overdosed between January and June 2018 and there were 90 visits to the emergency department.
McKenzie says he just wants a report detailing the positives and negatives of having police and fire carry the emergency kits for people having a drug overdose.
"Let's unwrap what the actual training piece looks like and of course our administration will be able to provide us with a very clear picture of what the risk analysis is," he says. "There are a number of folks, is my understanding, that the police association and firefighters association are supportive of carrying these kits."
McKenzie says Windsor is in the midst of a full-blown public health crisis.
"Let's untangle and dig into this issue in a meaningful way where all of the individuals who have a significant amount of knowledge and understanding of these issues are all able to contribute to a report."
He points out he is just looking for support on the report, not for council to take a position on whether police and fire should carry naloxone.
Windsor is one of the last remaining medium sized cities in Ontario that does not equip police and fire with naloxone.
Windsor Police Chief Al Frederick believes paramedics, as health professionals, are best equipped to respond to a health crisis.