Safe consumption site in Timmins ready to open Monday
With Health Canada's permission, street drugs can now be consumed inside Safe Health Site Timmins.
Beginning Monday, people struggling with addiction can go there to inject their pre-obtained substances under the supervision of trained staff.
“We do hope to see for the community at large that if they know someone who uses substances, there's a safe place for them," said Patrick Nowak, manager of the addictions program at Timmins and District Hospital.
"We also hope to see decreases in 911 calls, we hope to see less discarded needles and things like that in the community."
There are three consumption booths, each equipped with sterile injection supplies.
"We have the mirrors there so nurses at the other end of the nursing station can sort of watch to make sure there's nothing medically wrong," said Nowak.
People can also get information on site about other local health services.
Dr. Louis Marion-Bellemare said opening Safe Health Site Timmins is an important milestone, but more work needs to be done because it's only a temporary site.
“The Timmins Area Drug Strategy and many other community organizations and leaders are still working vigorously on a permanent site," Marion-Bellemare said.
"That site takes quite a bit of time and we have to get special exemptions from the government and we are still actively working on that and we’re getting closer every day to a permanent site.”
Fifteen new jobs have been created at Safe Health Site Timmins, including nurses, nurse practitioners, harm reduction workers and patient engagement and safety staff members.
Retired police chief John Gauthier will be one of them.
“I’m not done yet. I need to keep serving the community in some form and I'm glad to do it this way," said Gauthier.
In the past two years, health officials said Timmins has had alarmingly high death rates due to suspected drug overdoes, ranking second in the province in 2020 and fourth last year.
The City of Timmins provided $1 million to establish the site.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
BREAKING Average hourly wage in Canada now $34.95: StatCan
Average hourly wages among Canadian employees rose to $34.95 on a year-over-year basis in April, a 4.7 per cent increase, according to a Statistics Canada report released Friday morning.
From outer space? Sask. farmers baffled after discovering strange wreckage in field
A family of fifth generation farmers from Ituna, Sask. are trying to find answers after discovering several strange objects lying on their land.
This iconic Canadian song is turning 50
Andy Kim's 'Rock Me Gently' is marking a major milestone, as it celebrates its 50th anniversary.
Oprah Winfrey: I set an unrealistic standard for dieting
Oprah Winfrey said on Thursday evening that she has long played a role in promoting unhealthy and unrealistic diets.
Ontario family receives massive hospital bill as part of LTC law, refuses to pay
A southwestern Ontario woman has received an $8,400 bill from a hospital in Windsor, Ont., after she refused to put her mother in a nursing home she hated -- and she says she has no intention of paying it.
Toronto police called to Drake's Bridle Path mansion for another alleged intruder on Thursday
Toronto police say a man who allegedly attempted to access Drake’s Bridle Path property was taken to hospital on Thursday after an altercation with security guards.
Flat tire on a highway? Here's why you shouldn't try to fix it
If you're cruising down a highway and realize you have a flat tire, you may want to think twice before stopping to fix it on the side of the road.
Storm-battered U.S. South is again under threat. A boy swept into a drain fights for his life
Dangerous storms crashed over parts of the U.S. South on Thursday even as the region cleaned up from earlier severe weather that spawned tornadoes, killed at least three people, and gravely injured a boy who was swept into a storm drain as he played in a flooded street.
Broadcaster and commentator Rex Murphy dead at 77: National Post
The National Post is reporting that Rex Murphy, the pundit and columnist who hosted a national call-in radio show for decades, has died.