By Spencer Sterritt

Provincially-funded community action team to tackle overdose crisis in Nanaimo

Feb 1, 2018 | 12:45 PM

NANAIMO — More boots will be on the ground in the harbour city to tackle the ongoing overdose crisis, which claimed 51 lives in Nanaimo last year.

Judy Darcy, minister of mental health and addictions, announced Nanaimo is one of 18 communities who will receive up to $100,000 for new community action teams.

“This overdose crisis is complex and there isn’t one simple solution,” she said. “I think we all know that, otherwise we would have already turned the tide significantly on this crisis. Different people need different pathways to hope.”

The teams, which Darcy said will be comprised of municipal staff, first responders, health care professionals and front-line agencies, are designed to build on the work already being done in the community, such as by Nanaimo’s public safety committee.

“There’s some very good work that’s happening in Nanaimo, but they were very keen when I met with them a few months ago,” Darcy said. “They said ‘We’re doing this off the side of our desk, we need more support, we need you to be there, we need more boots on the ground and better coordination.’”

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Darcy said the teams were designed to work with other front-line agencies, in order to hopefully address the root issues of illicit drug use.

“If someone’s life is saved by naloxone when they overdose and they go back to living a life on the street, what kind of pathway to hope is that?” Darcy asked. “We need to also connect with other agencies and try to provide the wraparound services that people need.”

B.C.’s new provincial health officer Dr. Patricia Daly, who’s also the clinical lead for the B.C. Overdose Emergency Response Centre, said each community team has a set list of interventions and plans to try as they work to prevent overdose deaths.”

Daly said the list of interventions will vary among the communities since they were designed by regional health response teams already in place.

“Some communities may need more access to supervised consumption or overdose prevention site. Some many need more treatment pathways and ways to connect with overdose care. It will be working through that list of actions, identifying which actions are missing and working to implement those in the community.”

The programs attempted will vary and so will the amount of money each community receives. The province said criteria is currently being developed to see how much each area needs, up to $100,000.

Campbell River, Duncan, Port Alberni and Victoria are also getting community response teams to tackle the overdose crisis across Vancouver Island.

The B.C. government is committed to spending $322 million dollars as part of a three-year initiative to stem the tide of overdose-related deaths.

spencer@nanaimonewsnow.com

On Twitter: @spencer_sterrit