Some shocking numbers on the opiate crisis in Quesnel from last night’s City Council meeting.
Reanne Sanford is a Regional Nursing Lead with Northern Health…
“Last year from June 13th to March 31st we had a total of 19 overdoses and in 2017 already we’ve had 11 confirmed overdoses.”
Sanford says those figures are from the emergency room and likely don’t include those that are happening in communities and that are being reversed with Naloxone kits which she says does happen a lot in Quesnel.
She says Fentanyl played a role in some of those overdoses, adding that it is now present in almost all of our illicit substances that are found.
In terms of harm reduction, remarkably Sanford says 400 clean needles and safe injection kits are handed out each day by public health in Quesnel.
Taking a look at some of the other numbers so far this year….Sanford says they have handed out 500 safe inhalation kits which includes crack stems, 200 Naloxone kits and 15,000 condoms.
All are free and publicly funded through the harm reduction program at the BC Centre for Disease Control with the exception of the crack stems which are funded through Northern Health.
Sanford is hoping that the City of Quesnel will partner with them by purchasing and managing disposal drop boxes throughout the City.