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By Ashley Lavallee-Koenig

TO REPLACE OVERDOSE PREVENTION SITE

City council makes moves to improve addiction recovery and shelter space in Red Deer

Nov 12, 2024 | 9:38 PM

Mobile rapid access addiction medical services (M-RAAM) are coming to downtown Red Deer after city council unanimously approved a development permit for the project in the November 12 regular meeting.

The M-RAAM services will be coming to a lot (5256 53 Avenue) owned by Safe Harbour Society, and they are expected to commence on December 1, 2024. While the name implies mobility, the services will be offered from a trailer that will remain stationary on the lot.

The space will be operated by Recovery Alberta and staffed with nurses and other health professionals offering the following services:

• Screening, brief intervention, and referrals/warm hand-offs
• Comprehensive assessment and diagnosis of substance use disorders and concurrent mental health disorders
• Initiation of pharmacotherapy for treating withdrawal from substance use or substance use disorders (i.e. anti-craving medication)
• Harm reduction education and drug poisoning prevention
• Primary health care assessments and minor wound care
• Counselling
• Assistance in obtaining Alberta Health Care and government-issued identification

“This trailer, at this moment, is a start in the right direction to helping this community become focused on recovery and lifting them out of their addictions and supporting them in a way that is meaningful,” commented Coun. Vesna Higham.

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At the moment, the lot hosts a temporary overdose prevention site (OPS) that was established in 2018. It operates out of a trailer that will coexist with the new service space until March 31, 2025, the latest it is set to be decommissioned and removed according to Alberta government officials.

The OPS provides those suffering from addiction with a safe and monitored space to use pre-obtained drugs – it does not provide clients with drugs – to prevent overdose and mitigate health-care system strain. The M-RAAM unit will not continue this service, and instead will have a recovery-oriented focus.

Coun. Cindy Jefferies commented on the impact the OPS closure may have on the community, mentioning a need to address gaps in the entire support system to see these new services have a lasting impact.

“Where will people who have been using the OPS go?” She asked. “They’re not going to disappear because the OPS has disappeared. They will go somewhere and I suspect it will be into the parks and into the downtown area; I hope that I am wrong.”

The new services are slated to operate 12 hours per day, seven days per week. They will be funded by a $3.4 million commitment from the Government of Alberta.

Health and medical services fall under permitted use for this lot as per the Zoning Bylaw, so public consultation was not required to approve the permit.

City council did add a condition to the permit that requires the applicant to reinstate or repair the lot to its original condition once the space is no longer in use.

Other decisions made by council that day that may change the landscape of recovery in Red Deer included amendments to the Zoning Bylaw to support expanded emergency housing and recovery services.

“These adjustments will help ensure a sustained emphasis on recovery-oriented care as the province plans for more permanent housing and emergency shelter solutions in our city,” said City Manager Tara Lodewyk. “Our city, like many others across the country, continues to face complex challenges in addressing the needs of vulnerable populations in our community.”

Lodewyk refers to a recent commitment by the Government of Alberta and Government of Canada to provide matched funding to cities urgently needing support to address encampments and the needs of the unhoused community as winter descends. Red Deer has been chosen as a recipient city for the funding, and administration shared that they are in the midst of informal talks to determine what will be done with it and how it will be distributed. An official dollar amount has not yet been determined.

Related: Homeless encampments at the centre of latest disagreement between Alberta and Ottawa

Council unanimously passed first reading of the amendments, which, if approved, will enable the following to be considered through a development permit:

• Removal of permission for supervised consumption services at 5233 54 Avenue
• Extension of the temporary shelter at 5239 53 Avenue, allowing it to remain in operation until May 2028
• Expansion of the site to add emergency shelter as a use into an adjacent unit at the temporary shelter site (5239 53 Avenue) for the upcoming winter season
• Additional capacity for detox and overnight shelter at 5246 53 Avenue

A public hearing and consideration of second and third readings regarding these amendments it expected to be held at the December 2 regular council meeting.