City council was provided with supporting data at last night’s meeting showing that our community has an opioid crisis and it is having a significant impact on local addiction workers.
Desiree Beck an outreach worker with the Group Health Centre told council that across the social services field, addiction workers are experiencing burn out and vicarious trauma, due to the influx and severity of addiction with little to no growth in the supports provided.
In outlining the extent of the crisis, Beck says there was a 114% increase in ER visits from 2016-17 to 2017-18…and in one month period last September, EMS responded to 40 incidents of suspected opioid overdose with 22 occuring in one week and 8 occuring in one night.
Beck also told council that program service users of the Group Health Centre’s Hep Care Program continue to report 15 overdoses per week.