The new Island Health-run overdose prevention site in Nanaimo cannot come soon enough and will be a crucial life-saving tool, said the councillor who set up an unauthorized safe consumption site outside Nanaimo City Hall.
Coun. Gord Fuller was told over the weekend a man died of a suspected overdose in the supportive housing complex at 437 Wesley St., which is where Island Health intends to set up an overdose prevention site by the end of the month.
Fuller said the man’s death might have been prevented if the overdose prevention site had been in place. “That person might have gone downstairs knowing he had a safe place to use with someone watching.”
B.C. Coroners Service confirmed it is investigating the death of a man in his 50s who lived at the low-barrier residential facility, which houses high-risk, vulnerable people and is run by the Canadian Mental Health Association. The cause of death is being determined and “illicit drug use has not been ruled out as a possible cause,” coroner Barb McLintock said.
Island Health has said the site should be operating as soon as the required staff has been recruited and trained.
“Given the number of overdose deaths in our Nanaimo community in the past few years, we’ve identified the need for services for overdose prevention,” said Island Health medical health officer Dr. Paul Hasselback.
Hasselback said the Wesley Street location is six blocks from the current pop-up site and is “much closer to where we tend to see higher rates of overdoses.”
The temporary site will be in operation seven days a week until a permanent supervised consumption site in Nanaimo is approved by Health Canada.
Fuller said it took five days to recruit trained volunteers and gather the necessary supplies to set up the unsanctioned overdose prevention site in Nanaimo City Hall’s parking lot on Dec. 26. He was motivated to act quickly after seeing the alarming rate of overdose deaths, with 25 in Nanaimo between January and November 2016.
Fuller said 14 to 16 people a day have been using the site, which consists of a portable building, a heat source, tables and chairs. It is staffed by two people trained to deliver the overdose antidote naloxone and to call emergency services.
“We’ve had three overdoses so far and we were able to bring back all three of them,” he said.
Fuller said establishing the unauthorized site has pushed Island Health to set up an official temporary safe consumption site in Nanaimo. Hasselback said the pop-up site focused more attention on responses to the fentanyl crisis, but that discussion was already underway among Island Health officials.
On Dec. 12, the province passed an order to support creation of temporary overdose-prevention sites — an emergency response until official supervised-consumption sites, with attached health and social services, are approved by Health Canada.
Victoria has two temporary sites, one outside the Our Place drop-in shelter on Pandora Avenue and one inside the supportive housing complex at 844 Johnson St.
