Northern B.C.'s only overdose prevention site is a desk and chair behind a filing cabinet
Officials also considering supervised consumption site for region
In a year of unprecedented illicit drug fatalities, the B.C. government has opened overdose prevention sites across the province to try and save lives.
The sites range from a repurposed health centre in Kelowna to a portable classroom outside a community centre in Victoria, but one of the simplest is inside the HIV/AIDS prevention building in downtown Prince George.
"It's basically a chair and a metal table with a sharps container," says Dr. Andrew Gray, medical health officer with Northern Health.
"People who come in who want to be monitored for overdose, they're directed to this space."
Tucked between a filing cabinet and a book shelf, the space may not look like much but Gray says it is already making a difference for front-line staff.
"Overdoses tended to happen out of their sight, in the alley, on the doorstep, sometimes even in the bathroom," he explained. "So while staff were prepared and trained to respond they didn't have a way to know when overdoses were happening."
Under the new system, drug users are invited inside where staff can keep an eye on them in case intervention is needed.
The province says these sites are temporary measures opened in response to a public health emergency where the need is greatest.
Northern B.C. has been less affected by the fentanyl crisis than other parts of the province. The region has seen fewer overall deaths than any other, and the second-fewest deaths per capita.
Still, 2016 in northern B.C. saw nearly twice the number of deaths as 2015. December was the worst month overall.
Supervised consumption site 'in the work plan'
Northern Health's Chief Medical Health Officer Dr. Sandra Allison says she is always looking for ways to decrease fatalities.
"We want to understand how to support people in their drug use," she said, adding they are observing initiatives like supervised injection sites and prescribed opiate clinics in the Lower Mainland.
Allison said some form of supervised consumption site is "in the work plan" for Northern Health but more steps need to be taken to figure out where it would be most effective.
"We need to understand where people are overdosing across the north," she said. "It's a very large region ... we have to make sure that we'd doing it carefully and plan appropriately."
The difference between a supervised consumption site and overdose prevention site is the role staff take in helping those using drugs, said a spokesperson for the B.C. Ministry of Health.
"At supervised consumption services, people are supervised as they do illicit drugs," explained media relations manager Lori Cascaden.
"The purpose of overdose prevention service is to monitor people who have used illicit drugs for signs of an overdose, and provide rapid intervention when an overdose occurs ... we are not supervising injections."
To that end, people entering the Prince George space sit with their back to staff while the bookshelf provides privacy. Staff don't see any drug use take place, but they can watch for signs of an overdose happening.
"It's something that the staff know people are doing anyway," Gray said.
"And, I think it was more stressful for them to hear that somebody has overdosed outside where it's harder to get to them, it's harder to resuscitate them and then have to respond on a really sudden basis."
"I think there's a sense of greater confidence that we'll be able to save more lives."
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
