2020-2024

The Mobile Support Overdose Resource Team - or MSORT was a collaboration between PARN’s Harm Reduction Works (HRW) program, Peterborough County/City Paramedics (PCCP), the Four Counties Addiction Services Team (FourCAST), and the Peterborough Drug Strategy (PDS). This project was developed through community consultations led by the Peterborough Police Service (PPS) in early 2018.

PARN, PCCP, and FourCAST all had frontline staff on the MSORT team and were the people you might have interacted with in the community. PDS provided evaluation and knowledge translation support, while PPS provided administrative and management oversight. All the partners participated in a collaborative leadership team to support the work of the project manager.

The Team:

The frontline team included a Community-based Paramedic, two Addictions Treatment Specialists and Harm Reduction Peer Outreach Workers who offered a range of support, health and treatment options for people thinking about what they needed and who best could assist them. The team took a trauma-informed approach to their work and understood that addiction, a poisoned drug supply and high rates of overdoses are having a devastating impact on our community.

The team’s ability to meet people out in the community enabled them to meet them where they were. You may have seen team members travelling in a Paramedic-marked SUV, unmarked cars or out on foot in the community.

The team manager provided day-to-day support and oversight to the team who aimed to respond to all referrals and requests for service within 24 to 48 hours.

Who We Served:

MSORT served people in the County and City of Peterborough to try and reduce the negative health (physical, mental and emotional) impacts of a poisoned illicit drug supply, especially those related to opioid overdoses, risk of overdose, and substance use disorder. While the people at risk of and who were experiencing overdoses were a priority for MSORT, the team also supported the people close to them who were also affected by the impacts of the current opioid crisis.

MSORT also sought to support a collaborative connected system of services to the primary population above by supporting service providers as well, especially those on the frontlines in supportive and social housing settings and people working in the shelter system.

Services That Were Offered

Overdose Follow-up

Supporting people following an overdose was one focus of the team. Participating in a wellness check gave the community paramedic a chance to provide minor medical care like checking an abscess and making a warm connection to further medical care. People could also get harm reduction supplies, including Naloxone, and emotional support. It can be challenging to try and think of all the appropriate referrals required after an overdose. One referral to MSORT provided the team a chance to do an assessment and connect the individual to supports that made sense.

MSORT was also of assistance to people supporting someone else who had experienced a recent overdose and needed information, support or referrals. Additionally, MSORT also helped service providers ensure that everything that could be done was being done.

Collaborative Care Planning

MSORT was committed to collaborative, holistic approaches, including assistance with systems navigation and collaborative care planning.

Harm Reduction Supports, Supplies and Naloxone

Helping people stay as healthy as they could while they used and preventing overdoses was another focus of the team. Whether your clients needed new supplies like syringes, information on safer use or Naloxone, MSORT could help.

Health and Wellness Supports

The team provided a range of services and supports that included single, one-time interactions through to short-term case management. Where longer-term support or care was required the team helped connect people to available services and programs that they wanted and needed. This systems navigation meant more than making a referral, it meant working with people to really understand their needs and supporting them through the referral process to ensure a successful connection.

We referred to and worked with you and a wide range of health and social services including: the Rapid Access Addictions Medicine Clinic, 360 Nurse Practitioner-Led Clinic, mental health services, addictions treatment options, Primary Care, Housing Supports, Legal Aid, Kawartha Sexual Assault Centre, Nogojiawanong Friendship Centre, Youth Services, and more (see collaborative care planning).

CONNECT | PREVENT | STRENGTHEN

Production of this document has been made possible through a financial contribution from Health Canada. The views expressed herein do not necessarily represent the views of Health Canada.

Le présent document a été produit grâce à la contribution financière de Santé Canada. Les opinions exprimées ne représentent pas nécessairement celles de Santé Canada.