St. Stephen seeing increased number of overdoses in recent days

St. Stephen has drug issues like most communities. Ambulance New Brunswick reports it had been responding to an average of one overdose call per week over most of the last month, but over the past week something happened and that overdose number jumped to 15. Sunday night there was a first responder call to the shelter on Main Street for an overdose situation and when they arrived there was nine people that were suffering from a severe drug overdose reaction And so it really tests the limits of our first responders and our capacity to provide health care. One major incident happened at Lighthouse Lodge, a local homeless shelter. The group that runs the shelter, Neighborhood Works, said in a statement posted online that it responded to an increased number of overdose incidents requiring emergency responders and several hospitalizations. The community is feeling somewhat defeated by the fact that it's been going on for so long and they don't seem to see progress in developing solutions. So, you know, for the next little while, we're really going to be focusing on trying to get some of those wraparound services. At a Monday press conference, New Brunswick Health Minister John Dornan said he was not exactly sure what has been happening in St. Stephen, but noted overdoses are an issue in many communities and the government is looking at training smaller local fire departments and how to respond. Many firefighters have to deal with emergency health care issues and concerns. Sometimes they do not feel that they have the tools to do that, so that's under active consideration. As of Monday, over the last 10 days in St. Stephen, according to Ambulance New Brunswick, it responded to 16 drug overdose calls. That compares to three in the 10 days before that, and zero in the 10 days before that. One patient was transported to the hospital in the backseat of a police car because there wasn't any more ambulances available. And so what that means, if somebody in another part of the county or the city has a heart attack or we have an industrial accident or even a car accident, who's going to respond to help them? The RCMP released a statement saying it is investigating whether any criminal elements are linked to the incident and are seeking information about individuals who may be supplying illegal drugs. Neighborhood Works says involved substances have not been confirmed and did not respond to requests for comment.