by: taylor campbell
eight recent opioid overdoses have prompted the local health unit to issue an alert.
the overdoses, six of which involved fentanyl, occurred between april 19 and april 25, last sunday. most of them happened in windsor.
in comparison to previous years, the week’s overdose numbers are high and warrant a community alert, said a notice from the windsor-essex community opioid and substance strategy (wecoss) on wednesday.
community agencies are asked to notify their clients and relevant partners about the increase in overdoses and contact the windsor-essex county health unit if they are aware of any linkages between the cases or other causes for the increase.
wecoss is a collaborative initiative to address the harms associated with the abuse of opioids and other substances in the windsor-essex region.
the strategy includes the efforts of the windsor-essex county health unit, windsor regional hospital, essex-windsor ems, erie shores healthcare, and local police services.
anyone experiencing a mental health or substance-related emergency is encouraged to call the local crisis line at 519-973-4435 or 911, or go to the closest hospital emergency department.