An ATCO trailer once used as a temporary supervised drug consumption site in Calgary will be moved to Safe Harbour to help save lives in Red Deer, hopefully by Oct. 1.
Although it will be located at Safe Harbour, the temporary overdose prevention program inside the trailer will be operated by harm reduction agency Turning Point.
Health Minister Sarah Hoffman announced the project after asking a local steering committee to come forward with a recommendation for the site, and a recent provincial opioid report that showed the city had by far the highest rate of fentanyl-related deaths at 44.7 per 100,000 population in the first six months of the year.
Mayor Tara Veer said debate about the location, and what kind of supervised service to provide, has been ongoing since late 2017.
She said Hoffman decided she “needed an answer in short order.” While the city preferred the service be located on Red Deer Regional Hospital Centre grounds, the committee preferred it to be at Safe Harbour.
Veer said the city will not object to this location as long as it operates for a maximum of 12 months, a needle debris strategy is put in place to mitigate public safety risks, and that the province, city and partners work together on a long-term solution for an integrated shelter with wraparound supports to resolve the city’s systematic social challenges. The city also needs the province’s funding commitment for long-term permanent solutions.
Alberta Health, Alberta Health Services, Turning Point, Safe Harbour and the City of Red Deer representatives met Wednesday and will meet regularly over the next few weeks to get the overdose prevention program operational. Staffing, costs and other details are being finalized.
“Everybody is working really hard to get it up and running as quickly as possible, and Oct. 1 is kind of the goal,” said Stacey Carmichael, Turning Point executive director.
“This is not going to end the opioid crisis. There is a lot more work for sure, but at the end of the day it will save some lives and that is pretty cool.”
Red Deer’s overdose prevention site will have space for four people to use previously obtained drugs under the supervision of staff that can provide life saving measures if needed.
Carmichael said unlike a supervised consumption site, a temporary overdose prevention site does not provide wraparound health and social supports. Red Deer still needs a supervised consumption site, which Turning Point will also operate.
She said the community will be kept informed as work progresses in the coming weeks.
“It’s happening very quickly and lots of folks will have lots of questions. We’ll figure out the best way to answer those questions and address concerns,” Carmichael said.
Kerry Bales, chief zone officer at Alberta Health Services Central Zone, said the overdose prevention site is a temporary measure while organizations continue to work on finding a permanent site for supervised consumption services.
“(The overdose prevention site) is one way that we can get services up and running sooner rather than later to address some of the challenges we’ve been having with fentanyl use in the city,” Bales said.
szielinski@reddeeradvocate.com
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