Nanaimo paramedics responded to more overdose calls than ever in 2020. (file photo/NanaimoNewsNOW)

By NanaimoNewsNOW Staff

continuing crisis

Nanaimo paramedics respond to record number of overdose calls in 2020

Jan 22, 2021 | 5:32 AM

NANAIMO — Local paramedics handled a record number of overdose calls in 2020, even higher than when the overdose crisis was at its peak.

New information from BC Emergency Health Services showed there were 664 callouts in Nanaimo in 2020 as the crisis worsened due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

This is roughly 100 more callouts than in 2019 and slightly more than in 2017 and 2018 at the height of the overdose epidemic.

This equals nearly two overdose calls a day throughout 2020.

By the end of November, 2020, 37 people had fatally overdosed in Nanaimo.

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2020 is expected to be the second deadliest year on record for overdoses.

Roughly 80 per cent of all overdose deaths occurred inside.

Illicit overdoses were declared a public health emergency in 2016, an order which remains in place.

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