Turning Point's temporary overdose prevention site has been open since Oct. 1, 2018. (rdnewsNOW file photo)

By Josh Hall (Twitter: @Vancan19)

First quarter numbers show...

Red Deer sees big drop in opioid-related deaths

Jun 28, 2019 | 1:19 PM

Overdose deaths in Red Deer and the AHS Central Zone are down by a substantial margin so far this year.

First quarter statistics released by Alberta Health show Red Deer saw two fentanyl-related deaths from January to March, the least of any of the province’s major cities.

In all 2018, Red Deer had 47 fentanyl-related deaths, third-most in Alberta.

Stacey Carmichael, Executive Director at Turning Point says their temporary overdose prevention site that opened Oct. 1 deserves a lot of the credit.

“This is good news for our community and everybody, quite frankly. The overdose prevention site undoubtedly had an impact on the reduction in fatalities and the reduction in EMS responses,” she says.

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“This demonstrates that we have a service that people are using and accessing, in combination with the naloxone we are able to distribute. Turning Point distributes upwards of 10 per cent of all the naloxone in the entire province.”

The province as a whole saw 137 opioid-related deaths through the first three months of this year – all of which were from fentanyl, marking the first time that has happened. It’s the lowest quarterly total since quarter two of 2017.

Central Zone saw eight overdose deaths the last reported quarter (Q4 2018), the lowest total since Q1 2017 and down from 21 in Q4 2018 and 15 in Q3.

Despite the improvements, Carmichael doesn’t want the public to get the wrong perception.

“There are a variety of things happening that are helping keep the numbers at bay, but we’re still responding to overdoses every single day,” she says. “I would hate for people to think it’s all good now, because it’s not.”

Meantime, Carmichael says Turning Point continues to focus on cleanup of needle debris in the vicinity of the OPS.

“We have our night reach team out every night picking up anything they might find. We also have a site liaison that does sweeps throughout the area of the OPS throughout the day and responds to calls from businesses for debris pickup,” she says.

“Turning Point has reduced the number of syringes we are distributing by just over 30 per cent from 2017/18 fiscal year to 2018/19. The people who are called out to pick up syringes aside from Turning Point are also reporting a reduction.”

The temporary overdose prevention site in the Railyards area next to Safe Harbour had 14,143 visits in its first six months (Q4 2018 + Q1 2019). There were 347 overdoses successfully reversed and zero deaths.

There are currently six sites in the province where supervised consumption services are available, not including Red Deer’s OPS.

Turning Point started work on a permanent site they planned to open in Red Deer this year, but the new provincial government has halted funding for it pending a review.