PORTLAND, OR (KPTV) -
As first responders struggle to deal with a shortage of drug supplies in light of unprecedented manufacturing delays and industry changes, FOX 12 has learned some agencies are using expired meds, or substituting alternative drugs, into their daily supply.
Fortunately, Portland Fire is the No. 1 EMS provider in the state, according to EMS Battalion Chief Ken Burns. When vendors make the drugs available, Burns said, Portland is priority to receiving those drugs.
However, Burns said the department is swimming in uncharted waters. They are running low on many drugs they use daily, and they are now holding onto their expired drugs as a last resort.
"The medication shortage just kind of crept up on everyone in the past eight months," Burns said. "Everyone is meeting and discussing their own situations."
Burns said Portland Fire currently has no immediate plans to administer expired drugs to patients. They are just storing them as a precaution, in case they run out of their main supply.
"Right now we're OK, but when we look down the road, three, four, six months from now is where it really starts to be a concern," Burns said.
The problem is the extensive amount of medicine backordered at the manufacturing level. Burns said paramedics desperately need medicine they've ordered months ago, but it still hasn't been delivered.
That means the department is forced to look for alternative drugs to order and fast. But, Burns said those drugs come with their own set of risks.
"Different drugs, and different medications are going to have different side effects, and our emergency response differs from say the emergency room, simply because doctors can control those side effects," Burns said.
Starting next week, crews will have to swap out at least one commonly used medication for an alternative. Burns said there are several other drugs they'll have to replace soon after that.
Using alternatives though, is still better than the uncertainty that comes with using expired drugs, said Burns who is hoping it will never get to that point.
"When you use expired meds, you really don't know the effect, or the potency, or for how long it will even work, there are just so many variables that all impact a drug's effectiveness," Burns said.
Burns said right now Portland Fire is redistributing meds to different departments within the agency to make sure they have an even supply of the drugs they have left.
He added that they are even working with outside agencies such as Clackamas, Gresham and Tualatin Fire to make sure they too have the drugs they need on a monthly basis.
"It's a situation we have to monitor all the time," Burns said.
As the drug crisis mounted for the Bend Fire Department earlier this year, the Associated Press reported that the agency had 11 medications in its drug kits that were expired, despite risks that the pharmaceuticals might not work as intended in life-or-death situations.
Since then the crisis has eased a bit, but the agency still carries expired doses of two drugs in serving the city of 80,000 people.
FOX 12 called the Bend Fire Department, but they could not be reached for comment.
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