‘Extraordinary amount’ of overdose calls in Moncton area not slowing down

The Moncton Fire Department responded to 23 overdose calls in one day.

Wednesday was another busy day for first responders in the Moncton, N.B., area.

Moncton Fire Department Deputy Chief Keith Guptill said crews responded to 23 overdose calls between 7 a.m. and 3 p.m. on Wednesday.

The average as of late has been around five over a 24-hour shift.

“That is an extraordinary amount,” said Guptill.

Ambulance New Brunswick’s 911 dispatch team received 40 overdose-related calls in the Greater Moncton Area from Monday morning until noon Wednesday.

The significant number of calls this week comes after an incredibly busy weekend that saw 65 calls for Ambulance New Brunswick in relation to suspected overdoses between Friday at 7:30 a.m. and Monday at 7:30 a.m.

Vice-president of community development for the YMCA of Greater Moncton Hannah LaPointe said her outreach team alone has responded to more than 40 overdoses since Friday morning.

“On an average day, we probably have one to two a day,” said LaPointe. “Everybody’s feeling it. Our members, our folks experiencing homelessness that utilize substances are feeling the impact obviously. It could be themselves, it could be their friends, it could be their family.”

LaPointe said the staff on the ground who are responding to the calls and saving lives on a frequent basis are feeling the impact of the jump in overdoses, too.

LaPointe said the YMCA has heard of at least one overdose death from the weekend.

Harvest House Atlantic executive director Leo Baker said it was a very difficult weekend for all.

“The over 100, probably now 150, overdose responses have probably had a real system cost that would blow people’s minds and that excludes the human cost of loss, trauma and system strain,” said Baker.

Guptill said over the past few days crews have been attending to one person while others have dropped to the ground right in front of them.

“They’re tending to a patient on a scene and while they’re there, they actually get on the radio and call out to fire control, which is our dispatch centre, and say, ‘We’re going to either need some more help or else just want to make you aware that we’ve just had one, two more people that have dropped while we’re dealing with this one patient that’s having an overdose,’” said Guptill.

Guptill says his biggest concern is for public safety, preventing people from dying or suffering brain damage.

However, he’s also concerned about his crews.

“They’ve just been running steady for the last number of days. Bing, bing, bing all over the place,” said Guptill. “They’re getting fatigued with that.”

Guptill said firefighters have heard fentanyl has been laced with something, possibly a tranquilizer, and that’s why it’s having such an impact.

He said sometimes they’ll go and treat someone with Narcan and then a few hours later they’ll get another call for the same person.

“Those 23 may not all be separate individuals. Some of them could very well be us treating the same patient,” said Guptill.

RCMP spokesperson Cpl. Luc Picard confirms members of the Codiac Regional RCMP responded to some overdose-related calls over the weekend in their capacity as first responders.

“It is important to note that overdose calls are, by nature, medical emergencies and do not necessarily involve criminal activity,” said Picard in an email. “As such, police may not attend every incident if there is no indication of a crime.”

For more New Brunswick news, visit our dedicated provincial page.