By Spencer Sterritt

Island Health stresses human connection after newest overdose fatality numbers

Aug 4, 2017 | 5:58 PM

NANAIMO — BC Coroners Service released the latest overdose statistics and like clockwork news stories focused on the exceedingly alarming number of deaths.

Charmaine Enns, a medical health officer with Island Health, told NanaimoNewsNOW it’s an important release of information but the human element of the crisis can be overlooked amid the numbers.

“Every death and every overdose is a person that somebody loved, that loved other people, that was part of a family and their lives started long before this particular event.”

For the first six months of 2017, 24 people died of an overdose in Nanaimo.

“It’s easier to cope when we can make it a little more sterilized,” Enns said.

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By the end of 2016, 28 people had died from overdoses in Nanaimo. Enns said she couldn’t speculate if Nanaimo would meet or exceed last year’s fatalities by the end of summer, but said “We don’t have a good trend happening. Of course, every month we’re hoping it’s going to reverse.”

When someone dies, the effects are felt on multiple fronts. Enns said everyone from paramedics to overdose prevention staff to siblings of drug users have an incredible weight to bear.

“I can’t imagine there’s any community that isn’t affected. This impacts all of us, some closer than others.”

Ongoing coverage of the crisis has also complicated the matter.

“We are becoming acutely aware of the amount of stigma that is providing barriers to a really good response, not only within our health system but in our communities,” Enns said.

Recently, Nanaimo city council declined to make necessary zoning changes to allow the current overdose prevention site to become a federally sanctioned supervised consumption site, which was part of an Island Health proposal. The decision was made after a public hearing where council heard various complaints about the site and a criminal element it allegedly brought to the area.

The path forward for Island Health and a supervised consumption site is unclear, but Enns stressed there’s no quick fix for the crisis.

“This didn’t happen fast and it won’t be fixed fast. We’re going to need to see an extended period of time with the rates coming down consistently before we have any confidence that this overdose crisis is starting to reverse. I think we should buckle down for the long term.”

Chief coroner Lisa Lapointe said many of the 780 fatalities in B.C. between January and June were among people who died alone. There were 414 deaths during the same period last year. The opioid fentanyl was detected in nearly 80 per cent of deaths between January and May.

spencer@nanaimonewsnow.com

On Twitter: @spencer_sterrit