Lambton County is getting $150,000 more to help in the fight against opioid addiction.
Lambton County councillors at a committee meeting approved the hiring of a mental health and addictions program coordinator and a statistical data analyst with the cash provided by the province to fight the on-going crisis which is claiming hundreds of lives a year.
Andrew Taylor, general manager of public health, says right now the county works with other groups on planning and provides naloxone kits – an overdoes antidote – and training to people in the community. It also tries to track early warning signs of problems with emergency departments and first responders.
St. Clair Township Mayor Steve Arnold questioned whether it would be better to put the money into more prevention services instead of hiring someone to analyse data. But Taylor says it is often hard to know exactly what is going on because the data they receive is sometimes up to two years old. The opioid crisis is rapidly changing. He says having the statistics will help public health respond to emerging needs.
The move still hast to be approved by county council.