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Nanaimo overdose prevention staff tracking unreported overdoses to hopefully save lives
NANAIMO — There are significant gaps in the information available about overdoses and a local outreach team wants to provide the bigger picture.
The peer overdose witness response project is collecting stories from the local drug using community to investigate how many overdoses aren’t reported.
Since the beginning of December, they’ve tracked 29 overdoses where paramedics or police weren’t called.
Project worker Jeremy Kalicum told NanaimoNewsNOW he was shocked to see such a high number. “Honestly, I didn’t expect this sort of response. Even working in harm reduction and overdose prevention sites for so long, I had no idea of the extent of people not calling 911. It’s very concerning.”