Five sites proposed for mobile supervised consumption services in Red Deer

1) Safe Harbour Society
2) A parking lot less than a block from Turning Point at 5000 – 47 Street
3) A parking lot just north of 43 street by the hospital (the old Bettenson’s site at 4310, 4320, 4322, 4348 – 52 Avenue)
4) The olds Parks building in Railyards at 4934 – 54 Avenue

Stacey Carmichael, Executive Director at Turning Point, and Kath Hoffman, Executive Director at Safe Harbour, attended Monday’s meeting and both expressed frustration with only learning of the list of locations on Monday.

“We don’t believe in mobile,” Carmichael said. “While we appreciate that mayor and council are being proactive and trying to get ahead of the ball, it’s kind of disappointing that it’s contrary to what our local research has demonstrated, what our local agencies say we need, what people using the services say we need, and what Alberta Health and Alberta Health Services say.”

Hoffman, who stated last year that Safe Harbour did not want to be home to a fixed site, would only be open to being the site of mobile SCS if a fixed site elsewhere was also in the works.

In the meantime, Carmichael says they are looking at other locations for a fixed site, but she couldn’t share where.

She and Hoffman also admitted that it’s difficult to foresee how they and The City and council – who are seemingly polarized on the issue – will ultimately come to a resolution.

“It’s really complicated, but we all want the same thing, which is a response to what some people are referring to as a crisis,” Hoffman said. “But this (mobile) isn’t best practice. It’s fine as a secondary option, but I need to put my time, energy, focus and support on a permanent fixed site, and that is based on what this population is asking for.”

Carmichael reiterated the disadvantages to a mobile site, which include drastically reduced capacity, no washrooms, higher maintenance, and perhaps more importantly, the ability to offer wraparound services, as well as the ability to consume drugs in ways other than injecting.

Carmichael also confirmed that through April, 16 people in Red Deer have now died from an opioid related overdose in 2018.

The item is due to return to council for first reading at either the May 14 or May 28 meeting.

by Josh Hall (Twitter: @Vancan19)

Five sites proposed for mobile supervised consumption services in Red Deer

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