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www.northernsentinel.com
Volume 62 No. 20
Former resident escapes wildfire
Wednesday, May 18, 2016
1.30 INCLUDES TAX
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Hide-N-Heels
Shannon Lough Black Press The wildfire was at least 1.5 km on the outskirts of Fort McMurray. Katie Seggie wasn’t concerned. She heard that fire crews had it under control. That was on Sunday, May 1. The next day, Seggie was at home with her fiancé, Aaron Belanger, and they heard over the radio that the fire reached the fence line and was lighting up the south end of town. Seggie grew up in Kitimat. Her father, David, worked as a purchaser at Alcan for more than 20 years and her mother, Ann, worked at the hospital. Seggie went to Nechako Elementary School with her sister and to Mount Elizabeth Secondary School before moving to Fort McMurray 14 years ago. Kitimat was going through a bust at the time. There were layoffs at Alcan, and the promise of a boom in Fort McMurray drew the family to the oil town. “There wasn’t a lot going on so we headed for Fort McMurray, Alberta, just like a lot of other people,” Seggie said. More than a week after the mandatory evacuation from the city, Seggie is with her fiancé and their dog Gracie in Athabasca — a 300 kilometre drive south of Fort McMurray. “We’re staying in a four-wheel camper with a good friend. We’re looking for more permanent accommodations at the moment because we don’t know how long we’ll be away from home. It’s been an adventure that’s for sure,” she said. When the wildfire spread to the south end of the city, Seggie and Belanger still felt safe in their home. They lived in the north end, about 10 kilometres from the fire. Belanger’s family lived in the south and when they were evacuated they Continued on page 3
In Our Valley
/page 9 Pacific NW Festival
/page 10 PM477761
In a campaign to end violence against women and children men involved in the community through council, health and emergency services wore high heels while playing a friendly game of musical chairs. The event was held on Wednesay, May 11 at the Haisla Recreation Centre. Photo by Haisla Nation Council
Naloxone reverses Opioid overdoses Shannon Lough (with files from Tom Fletcher) A drug that can actually reverse an opioid overdose is on its way to Kitimat. Opioids, such as morphine, methadone, heroin, OxyContin or fentanyl can cause a user to go into cardiac or respiratory arrest — an overdose — and the drug, naloxone, can stop it. Naloxone is the antagonist to opioids. Take home naloxone kits have been available in some areas of the province, including Vancouver, Victoria and Kelowna, since 2012. This month, Northern Health approved Kitimat to be a registered naloxone site. “It actually saves people’s lives,” said Davey MacLennan, the co-chair for the harm reduction committee at Kitimat Community Services. MacLennan is one of the three people qualified, as well as two nurses at the hospital, to educate residents on naloxone. “It doesn’t mean that we’re going to
Davey MacLennan, co-chair of the harm reduction committee. see more people using higher amounts because they have this drug with them. People using opioids don’t want the high to be reversed because it’s actually quite a violent quick reversal that lasts long enough for emergency services to get there.”
Naloxone is injected and lowers the effect of an opioid drug for 15 minutes and wears off in 30 minutes. The drug works by binding to the same site in the brain where the opioids bind and then it pushes the opioids out. MacLennan said they ordered the naloxone supplies last week and once they arrive doctors will be able to prescribe naloxone kits to people who do require to have the kit on hand. Last year, there were 465 illicit drug overdose deaths reported in the province, which was a 27 per cent increase from 2014. Many of those deaths were from opioids. On Thursday, the Health Minister Terry Lake Health Minister Terry Lake said there were 56 overdose cases reported in April, and the province has seen an average of 60 a month since January. Half of those cases are related to fentanyl, a potent synthetic opioid increasingly showing up in street drugs. “People don’t know they’re taking it, and it’s 100 times more powerful than Continued on page 2