Lack of funding and staff means no overdose prevention site for North Bay
For the time being, there will be no overdose prevention site coming to North Bay.
The District of Nipissing Social Services Administration Board (DNSSAB) received grant funding to look at options for a facility.
“There’s been a lot of passionate pleas at our board meetings how that support could save lives and I think they’re valid,” said board chair Mark King.
A study was commission by DNSSAB and conducted by the North Bay Parry Sound District Health Unit. It concludes there is not enough funding and staff available to open such a facility and there is no lead agency to oversee operations.
Since many overdose prevention sites are implemented with a goal of applying to being a consumption and treatment facility, it wouldn’t fall under the health unit’s scope.
“The health unit‘s primary mandate is related to health promotion and prevention and less of a downstream of direct services which an overdose prevention site would be,” said Louise Gagné, the health unit’s executive director of community services.
An overdose prevention site can cost more than $800,000 to run each year. The spaces are for users to inject drugs while under trained staff supervision. Staff are on site to help if someone has an adverse reaction or overdose.
“Many overdose prevention sites are complimented by access to counselling, needle exchange, naloxone and other sorts of services,” said Gagné.
Health unit statistics show there were 19 opioid-related deaths in 2019 in the health unit’s area. That number more than doubled in both 2020 at 50 and 47 deaths in 2021.
This brings the rate of opioid related deaths to 65 per 100,000 people making the region the second highest of all medium-sized municipalities.
Whether a facility like this will ever come to the area, King said the city will just have to wait and see.
“My thought process now as the chair of DNSSAB now is that it’s a dead issue,” he said.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Senate expenses climbed to $7.2 million in 2023, up nearly 30%
Senators in Canada claimed $7.2 million in expenses in 2023, a nearly 30 per cent increase over the previous year.
Pedestrian, baby injured after stroller struck and dragged by vehicle in Squamish, B.C.
Police say a baby and a pedestrian suffered non-life-threatening injuries after a vehicle struck a baby stroller and dragged it for two blocks before stopping in Squamish, B.C.
Tom Mulcair: Park littered with trash after 'pilot project' is perfect symbol of Trudeau governance
Former NDP leader Tom Mulcair says that what's happening now in a trash-littered federal park in Quebec is a perfect metaphor for how the Trudeau government runs things.
'It's discriminatory': Individuals refused entry to Ontario legislature for wearing keffiyeh
Individuals being barred from entering Ontario’s legislature while wearing a keffiyeh say the garment is part of their cultural identity— and the only ones making it political are the politicians banning it.
RCMP uncovers alleged plot by 2 Montreal men to illegally sell drones, equipment to Libya
The RCMP says it has uncovered a plot by two men in Montreal to sell Chinese drones and military equipment to Libya illegally.
Government agrees to US$138.7M settlement over FBI's botching of Larry Nassar assault allegations
The U.S. Justice Department announced a US$138.7 million settlement Tuesday with more than 100 people who accused the FBI of grossly mishandling allegations of sexual assault against Larry Nassar in 2015 and 2016, a critical time gap that allowed the sports doctor to continue to prey on victims before his arrest.
Canucks goalie Thatcher Demko won't play in Game 2
The Vancouver Canucks will be without all-star goalie Thatcher Demko when they face the Nashville Predators in Game 2 of their first-round playoff series.
Man wanted in connection with deadly shooting in Toronto tops list of most wanted fugitives in Canada
A 35-year-old man wanted in connection with the murder of Toronto resident 29-year-old Sharmar Powell-Flowers nine months ago has topped the list of the BOLO program’s 25 most wanted fugitives across Canada, police announced Tuesday.
Doctors ask Liberal government to reconsider capital gains tax change
The Canadian Medical Association is asking the federal government to reconsider its proposed changes to capital gains taxation, arguing it will affect doctors' retirement savings.