The fate of Guelph’s overdose prevention site rests in the hands of the provincial government.
If the new government decides to discontinue the provincially-funded sites, the Guelph location would be forced to close in November, said Guelph Community Health Centre executive director Raechelle Devereaux.
The province announced earlier this week that it is reviewing the sites to see if they “have merit.”
“It has invariably saved lives since opening its doors,” Devereaux said of Guelph’s six-month pilot project that has been located at the GCHC on upper Wyndham Street since May.
“It’s working as one of the many strategies that are going to be need to respond the opioid crisis. It is one strategy, but from our perspective it’s offering life-saving opportunities in our community.”
In 11 weeks the site has had 600 visits and is increasing weekly, currently averaging 30 visits a day.
“It speaks to a need in our community,” Devereaux said.
There have been five overdoses that required medical intervention at the site and two other medical emergencies.
Devereaux understands and supports a review of the decision to have the sites.
“I wasn’t surprised that the minister of health spoke about doing a review and I think that’s important for their own due diligence,” she said.
“What we do know is that the science exists, the research is clear, that overdose prevention sites, supervised consumption sites are life saving interventions from a harm reduction perspective,” Devereaux said.
“We really hope the province is going to review that existing science and in doing so chose not to undo the great work that communities like Guelph and others have been able to do to help save lives in the current opioid crisis.”
On Tuesday Health Minister Christine Elliott said the government is reviewing the sites to see if they "have merit" and are worth keeping open.
"We need to take a look at the evidence and understand what the experts are saying, so I want to hear that. The premier wants to hear that. He wants to know that continuing with the sites is going to be of benefit to the people of Ontario," she said.
Devereaux said the GCHC and its partner in the overdose protection site pilot project — ARCH, the Guelph Family Health Team and Wellington Guelph Drug Strategy — are currently exploring the possibility of initiating an application for a federally-funded permanent site through Health Canada.
But Devereaux said that process would take some time and even if that was the chosen path, they would still need to look for an extension for the current site to stay open to bridge the gap between the current pilot project and any permanent solution.
Tours and an explanation of how the site operates are available to the public every Friday morning.
- With files from The Canadian Press
