By Troy Gillard

on the decline

Red Deer’s fentanyl-related death rate lowest in province

Sep 30, 2019 | 4:56 PM

In a stark contrast from the end of last year, Red Deer had the lowest rate of fentanyl-related deaths in the province through the first half of 2019.

Five people died from fentanyl in Red Deer between January and June, according to the Q2 2019 Alberta Opioid Response Surveillance Report, released by Alberta Health.

Red Deer’s rate of fentanyl-related deaths in June was 9.2 per 100,000 people, the report says.

In comparison, the rate in Lethbridge, closest to Red Deer in terms of population, was 22.5 (11 deaths in Q2). Grande Prairie had the highest rate in the province at 51 (19 deaths), while Medicine Hat saw a rate of 11.6 (four deaths in Q2).

(Source: Alberta Health)

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At the end of 2018, the rate of fentanyl-related deaths in Red Deer was 43.8 per 100,000, the highest in Alberta. Forty-seven people died in our city last year from an accidental fentanyl poisoning.

So far in 2019, 305 people have died in Alberta from an apparent accidental opioid poisoning, an average of two Albertans per day.

There were 56 EMS responses to opioid-related calls in Red Deer from January to June, putting our city on-pace for 114 for the year, which would be nearly half as many as there were in 2018 (216 calls).

The report shows that 4% of Emergency Department visits (1,440 visits) at Red Deer Regional Hospital from January to June were related to opioids, resulting in 503 hospitalizations.

The full report is available here.