Students will be required to select an issue affecting the Fire Service and the communities they serve; and make a case for action to be taken on the issue.
Please reword and use the community profile sources below in order to complete this assignment correctly following the rubric below
Research Paper Assessment Rubric
Students will be required to select an issue affecting the Fire Service and the communities they serve; and make a case for action to be taken on the issue. The paper will outline the issue in detail, the historical and current context, and what actions need to be taken and the reasoning behind it.
The advocacy paper will be divided into three sections of approximately 250-500 words for each section. The paper should be between 750- 1500 words. Each section will be graded out of 2.5 for a total of 7.5 marks, in addition, there will be 2.5 marks allocated for presentation & clarity. The overall assignment mark will be out of 20. Outlined below are the criteria to achieve a score between 2.5 or 0.25 in each section.
Summary of the issue
2.5 0.25
• In-depth summary of the topic chosen
• Incorporates their own personal interest in the topic
• Connections to one’s life are thoroughly detailed with significant back story
• Ideas are reinforced with evidence such as quotes, studies, facts, or relevant anecdotes
• Relates topic to course materials • Very minimal detail in summary
• No account of a personal connection
• Unable to show importance of the topic
Historical and Current Context
2.5 0.25
• Excellent review of the history and origins of the topic chosen
• Excellent review of the current context of the topic chosen
• Explains 2 causes and 2 effects on society at large
• Presents a solution for society at large
• Relates topic to course materials • Does not explain current context
• Does not explain historical context
• Does not articulate any connection to course materials
• Vague and unclear in their analysis of causes, effects, and/or solutions
Relevance to Fire Service & Practice Suggestions
2.5 0.25
• Provides 2 practice suggestions that are applicable to the Fire Service that support your solution from the historical context
• Ideas are reinforced with evidence such as quotes, studies, facts, or relevant anecdotes
• Makes convincing case for practice improvements • Concepts not shown to be relevant to Fire Service
• Did not present any suggestions for practice improvement
• Ideas are vague and difficult to comprehend
Presentation & Clarity
2.5 0.25
• Paper is correctly formatted (12 point Times New Roman, normal margins)
• Paper is handed in correctly on Blackboard
• Concise and unambiguous wording
• Virtually no spelling or grammatical errors
• Proper APA Citation is used • Didn’t follow formatting instructions
• Paper is hard to read & comprehend
• No attempt at spelling or grammatical checks
sources
Community Profile
For this community profile assignment we were asked to choose a community with an issue that’s affecting the fire services and we decided on homeless people in downtown Toronto suffering from the opioid crisis. The opioid crisis has been and will continue to be a big problem in downtown Toronto, especially amongst the homeless. We will be discussing the historical and present day contexts of this community, community service organizations involved with this community, and to conclude a SWOT analysis and areas to focus on in this community.
Homelessness in downtown Toronto has been a serious issue for years now. It wasn’t until the 1980’s when homeless started to get bad in the downtown area of Toronto. A dependence on the market mixed with the housing market starting to rise slowly and then getting out of control in recent years has been the main cause for homelessness in downtown Toronto. While homelessness started to rise, so did the use of opioids amongst homeless people. According to the Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) the opioid crisis has had three main spikes in overdose deaths since the 1990’s. In 1999 opioid overdoses amongst prescribed medication started to rise, then in 2010 the same thing happened with heroin, and then again in 2013 with synthetic opioids. If we look at downtown Toronto today, we can see these numbers continue to rise.
The current state of the opioid / overdose crisis in the downtown core of the city of Toronto is in a very critical state at the present moment. Legal and illegal opioids have made their way into the city, which contribute to the high number of overdoses occurring in the city of Toronto. Homelessness, opioids, drugs, & overdoses as it is a rampant and interconnected issue and now even more than ever due to a variety of social, economic and physical factors. According to Toronto Public Health, homeless deaths have been drastically rising with 128 deaths in 2019, 144 in 2020, and 221 in 2021. As of September of this year we have reached 94 deaths and more than half of the deaths this year and previous years are due to drug toxicity. Although it is unfortunate that many homeless people continue to die each year, it is important to note that many services are now starting to carry and use Naloxone kits including the Toronto Fire Services as of 2017 which can revert the effects of an opioid overdose. In recent years, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, these issues have been exacerbated greatly. COVID-19 has caused great mental health distress on many people all around the world, but has impacted the most vulnerable people in our society even greater than ever. Social services such as shelters, food banks, street organizations, and public services were all impacted during the pandemic with shutdowns & supply chain shortages that trickle down and affect those who need those services & organizations the most. These services & organizations were already overused, understaffed & under resourced, but the pandemic has greatly exacerbated these issues. Issues affecting these homeless service settings have been the fact that a lot of overdoses happen in these service settings. Since 2018 there have been 3796 non-fatal overdoses and 188 fatal overdoses in these homeless service settings. The amount of non-fatal overdoses that happen monthly have been almost doubling every year, with monthly fatal overdoses increasing by 1 each year in these service settings. With that said, many fatal overdoses are avoided thanks to the quick responses and actions of staff and first responders. Costs of living have risen dramatically, at a faster pace than wages have risen creating much greater stress for all people living in the city of Toronto (homeless or not), but have impacted them most vulnerable in society along with these social services & organizations. Inflation has weakened purchasing power for all people & the same amount of money can no longer help as many people as it used to due to rising costs, which means less people can get access to food banks, shelters which previously already had issues keeping their doors open to help people. Currently, through our examinations we do not see these issues such as opioids, homelessness, & overdoses decreasing (in current conditions) but increasing greatly. These social and economic factors are continuously increasing while resources, supplies, and social services are being depleted at a greater pace than are replenished, creating an even greater crisis that affects the most vulnerable people in our society which drives the increases in opioid usage, overdoses, homelessness & exacerbating mental health conditions in the city of Toronto.
In Toronto there are many community support centers for those who have issues with addictions, for example, the Satellite Opioid Treatment Program. The program offers many help-full Things such as, opioid agonist treatment for methadone and Suboxone, case management, nursing care, counseling and therapy, meal programs, recreational activities, health education and health promotion activities. Not only is this site extremely accessible for people who have the internet but they also take walk-ins. That means even if a person has no access to the internet, they can still get the help they need. The staff at the program are Doctors, nurses, and therapists which are extremely important for people going through addiction because of things like withdrawals, injuries and even mental illness. Another community support center is RAAM Clinics. They have 2 RAAM Clinics in Toronto and are available online and through walk-in. They provide Addiction therapy, peer support who have peer support workers who have lived with experience. Making it easier for them to understand their clients. Also provide addiction and harm reduction needs. It’s important for doctors and nurses and provided here because addiction isn’t an easy feat to overcome. Withdrawal includes feeling like you have a horrible flu, vomiting, diarrhea, sweating, and insomnia. These intense symptoms can last up-words of 14 days, depending on how long they have been abusing opioids. Post-Acute withdrawal symptoms (PAWS) can last months after their last use, this includes Inability to think clearly. Memory problems. Emotional overreactions or numbness and sleep insomnia, this is why the community support centers have Therapists, peer support workers and Doctors to help make these withdrawal systems easier to cope with.
Areas to continue to focus on moving forward would be free and public help for homeless people that suffer from opioid use. If we could get more organizations and give more free and helpful resources for homeless people to assist with their use of opioids, these deaths and overdoses would most likely stop at least a bit. It is important to note that not everyone wants help, so more safe injection sites for homeless people would also be helpful in stopping fatal overdoses due to opioids in Toronto.
S.W.O.T
Strengths Weaknesses Opportunities Threats
Firefighting PPE protects well against possitbility of contamination unlike paramedics and police officers
Typically the first to respond to a scene
Most firefighters have medical training.
Firefighters carry Narcan
Limited amount of firefighters making it harder to awnser to the high volume of calls
Firefighters dont have all the medical equipment needed
Opoids are higly dangerous making life saving efforts risky and potentially harming the fire fighters
Unable to transport victim to hospital
Reliant on other emergency response services
Creates Job opportunities for health care employees
Increases demand for pharmaceutical companies and health care services
Creating safe injection sites
Weather (winter, wind)
Lack of employees
Growth in opioid usage
Dangerous homelses encampments
Potential damage to employees from contamination
References
City of Toronto. (2022, August 17). Overdoses in homelessness services settings. City of Toronto. Retrieved November 8, 2022, from https://www.toronto.ca/city-government/data-research-maps/research-reports/housing-and-homelessness-research-and-reports/overdoses-in-homelessness-services-settings/
Why wasn’t homelessness a social problem until the 1980s? Why wasn’t Homelessness a Social Problem Until the 1980s? | The Homeless Hub. (n.d.). Retrieved November 8, 2022, from https://www.homelesshub.ca/blog/why-wasnt-homelessness-social-problem-until-1980s
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2022, June 1). Understanding the opioid overdose epidemic. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Retrieved November 8, 2022, from https://www.cdc.gov/opioids/basics/epidemic.html
Milaney, K., Passi, J., Zaretsky, L., Liu, T., O’Gorman, C. M., Hill, L., & Dutton, D. (2021, August 26). Drug use, homelessness and health: Responding to the opioid overdose crisis with housing and Harm Reduction Services – Harm Reduction Journal. BioMed Central. Retrieved November 8, 2022, from https://harmreductionjournal.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12954-021-00539-8
CityNews. (n.d.). Retrieved November 8, 2022, from https://toronto.citynews.ca/2022/09/06/toronto-homeless-shelters-covid19-encampments/
Shum, D. (2017, October 4). Toronto fire services now equipped with naloxone kits for opioid overdose – toronto. Global News. Retrieved November 8, 2022, from https://globalnews.ca/news/3784818/toronto-fire-services-naloxone-kits-2/
Raam Clinic. Shared Health. (2022, November 7). Retrieved November 8, 2022, from https://sharedhealthmb.ca/services/mental-health/raam-clinic/
Action Plan
Goal
Mitigate / reduce opioid crisis / overdose issues in the City of Toronto (downtown core)
Benchmarks/Objectives for success
Raise awareness for homeless people in downtown Toronto suffering from the opioid crisis
Try and reduce opioid overdoses in downtown Toronto
Strategic Action/Descriptions Person(s) Responsible Start Date Deadline Resources Required Notes
Firstly, deliver questionnaires to fire stations in the city of Toronto, mostly in the downtown area, & in other communities in order to compare, collect and to conduct analysis on different perspectives within different communities, while focusing on our main community in need. Oct 10 Oct 24 Fill out sheets and transportation
Topics discussed in questionnaire
Safe injection sites
Current laws
Addiction, homelessness
Law enforcement
Education strategies
Factors involved in this crisis
Justice system, doctors, pharmaceuticals
Educate staff and the public. Now that questionnaires are filled out and there is data available. Create a plan of attack to educate the public where there is a mutual feeling of value from both parties. Providing education is a common tactic that does not resolve an issue but strives to prevent it. Oct 25 Cont’d educati-on all year round Educators Create a motivating factor that will attract communities to listen to your educational plan for fire safety
Set up an interview with Mathew Pegg (the current Toronto fire chief) to talk about the evolution of the opioid crisis in Toronto and how stations under his jurisdiction are handling the issue whether that be with community outreach programs or safe injection sites. Also attempted to set up an interview with John Tory ( Toronto’s mayor) to discuss the issue and what resources are available to those in need while asking him what plans he has for the future of Toronto in regards to the opioid problem. Nov 20th Dec 1st Contact Mathhew Pegg
Compare notes from interviews to see what actions are being taken and if there are any similar themes
Meet with locals and organizations directly working with and helping homeless people in the downtown Toronto area suffering from the opioid crisis
Nov
20th
Dec
1st
Contact locals and organization and transportation Create questions to ask and meet/call local or organization representative
Promote clinics like RAAM and safe injection with billboards and signs around the homeless encampments and areas where the opioid crisis is popular. Add contact numbers and addresses so people know where to go if they would like or needs to get the help they need. Have volunteers to help put up the sings and hold presentations in schools for the young so we can have future candidates to help promote. Nov 20th
Dec
1st
Signs and posts for the signs.
Hire volunteers
To present and post the signs
Take notes to see if they promotion of the clinics is working
Track number of increase traffic in clinics and safe injections sites
Promoting CDC’s Preventing Opioid Overdose in order to educate others on what to do in opioid overdose situations through social media Nov 20th Dec 1at Social media Advertise Preventing Opioid Overdose
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