(L-R) Dr. Nathaniel Day, Medical Director for the Virtual Opioid Dependency Program (VODP) with Alberta Health Services; Mike Ellis, Associate Minister of Mental Health and Addictions; Jason Stephen, MLA for Red Deer-South; Adriana LaGrange, MLA for Red Deer-North; Ken Johnston, City of Red Deer Mayor; and Alberta RCMP Superintendent Mike McCauley, announcing the Red Deer RCMP partnership with the VODP on Tuesday. (rdnewsNOW/Alessia Proietti)

By Alessia Proietti

Alberta’s Virtual Opioid Dependency Program

Red Deer RCMP to offer addiction treatment at time of arrest

Jul 19, 2022 | 6:13 PM

Red Deer RCMP is now the latest police service to offer immediate access to life-saving addiction treatment when an individual is arrested.

Announced on Tuesday at the Red Deer RCMP South Detachment (4602 51 Ave), a partnership with Alberta’s Virtual Opioid Dependency Program (VODP) will allow anyone arrested in Red Deer to have the option of immediately consulting with an addiction medicine physician and access to opioid addiction treatment.

“People who commit a crime must be held accountable for their actions, but we can also treat addiction as a health-care issue while keeping our communities safe,” said Mike Ellis, Associate Minister of Mental Health and Addictions. “As a former police officer myself, I’ve seen far too many people who are arrested who have an illness of addiction and [officers] who want to help out but we as police just didn’t have the tools to help; now, there’s help.”

Central Alberta-born, the VODP program began in Ponoka, where the roughly nine physicians are currently located, according to Dr. Nathaniel Day, medical director for the VODP, administered through Alberta Health Services (AHS).

“The medical evidence shows that opioid dependency treatment, which we’re now able to offer to detainees right here, reduces a person’s all-cause mortality, or in other words decreases their likelihood of death, from any cause, including overdose and suicide, by more than 50 per cent,” he said.

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Officials say the program’s expansion to Red Deer comes after seeing significant uptake among clients in Edmonton, Calgary, Lethbridge and rural RCMP locations. Between January and June, those centres reported seeing more than 400 people referred to VODP for an addiction medicine consultation, with most of these individuals able to start evidence-based treatment medications prior to their release from custody.

“I would equate it [VODP] to the analogy of a stream. At the bottom of the stream, traditionally, police would be fishing people out of the river in order to provide enforcement to deal with people at their worst. Now, we’re trying to walk upstream. We’re trying to look and find and identify the problems, what’s causing them to hit rock bottom,” said Alberta RCMP Supt. Mike McCauley.

The VODP, with investment by the provincial government, offers free same-day access to opioid addiction treatment to anyone in Alberta, not just those in custody, by calling 1-844-383-7688 seven days a week, from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m., with no wait-list.

For those experiencing homelessness, Dr. Day says AHS’ Low-Barrier Urgent Access Team supplements the program by working with partners, like pharmacies, already in contact with the individual. To connect those homeless more easily, physicians will meet with them at a near-by location rather than having the individual come to a physician.

In December 2021, Alberta became the first jurisdiction in Canada to integrate access to addiction treatment with municipal jails in Edmonton, Calgary, some rural RCMP detachments, Medicine Hat, Lethbridge, on the Blood Tribe, and now in Red Deer.

Through the VODP, Albertans experiencing opioid addiction can access opioid agonist treatment (OAT) drugs and counselling to help manage withdrawal symptoms with ongoing support and monitoring through telehealth and videoconferencing. This includes access to Sublocade, an injection medication that officials say lasts in a person’s system for 30 days, with the potential to reduce the rate of opioid-related fatalities after discharge from police custody. Through gap medication coverage, this Sublocade is fully covered by the Government of Alberta.

“Helping people enter recovery from addiction and lead a more fulfilling, productive life helps us all. This partnership between our local RCMP and the Virtual Opioid Dependency Program will change countless lives in Red Deer by giving people the choice to choose a better life,” said Red Deer Mayor Ken Johnston.

In addition, DORS, a mobile app designed to prevent fatal overdoses among Albertans using opioids and other substances, often while alone, is now available for download province-wide and for use by anyone in central Alberta.

The DORS app can be downloaded to a smartphone free of charge from any app store or via DORSApp.ca. When using the app, Albertans will receive a call from the STARS emergency centre if they become unresponsive to a timer. If an overdose is suspected, STARS will immediately dispatch emergency medical services to the person’s location.

To date, officials say it has been downloaded more than 1,000 times and has more than 550 registered users, with multiple successful emergency medical services dispatches.

Other initiatives by the provincial government to help Albertans access life-saving addiction and mental health-related prevention, intervention, treatment and recovery resources include:

• Supporting the addition of more than 8,000 new publicly funded treatment spaces;
• The elimination of daily user fees for publicly funded residential addiction treatment;
• The new patient matching tool: Recovery Access Alberta;
• Services to reduce harm, such as the introduction of a nasal naloxone pilot, and expansion of opioid agonist therapy

For additional support, information and referral to services, call Alberta 211 or the Addiction Helpline (1-866-332-2322) or visit recoveryaccessalberta.ca.