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Overdose protection site to open in Downtown Guelph next month

Will provide a supervised location for people to inject drugs, provide harm reduction supplies and resources to connect with other health services
20180310 community health centre ts
Guelph Community Health Centre. GuelphToday.com photo

An overdose prevention site aimed at reducing the number of opioid deaths in the community will open in Downtown Guelph on April 28.

The site is a harm reduction service that offers a supervised location to inject drugs. It will be located at the Guelph Community Health Centre at 176 Wyndham St. N.

The site will also distribute harm reduction supplies, including naloxone, and a safe means of disposing of needles, plus make available resources to help connect users of the location to various community health partners, including addiction services.

The supervised injection services will include two injection booths where medical staff and peers with lived experience will provide immediate oversight and observation to drug users.

There will also be a space for quiet activities, extending the length of supervision by trained staff.

The local health unit is still investigating the possibility of setting up a safe injection site in Guelph.

A safe injection site is considered a permanent facility staffed by medical professionals, while an overdose prevention site can be a temporary facility with more peer-to-peer support, but does not necessarily require trained medical professionals.

Unlike a safe injection clinic, an overdose prevention site does not require Health Canada approval.

The OPS is a joint venture between the Community Health Centre, Guelph Family Health Team and ARCH.

They filed a joint submission to the provincial government for the site and it was approved earlier this week, said a written statement signed by the executive directors of those three organizations.

“That means that effective April 2018, the Guelph CHC’s downtown location will include an OPS, which will complement the many existing resources and supports offered by the Guelph CHC, as well as our integrated community partners and tenants,” the statement said.

The site is aimed helping reduce the number of opioid-related deaths in the community.

“The delivery supervised injection services will be a complement to our existing harm reduction resources and supports that (are) offered.

“The OPS is a temporary, short-term emergency response to a broader, longer-term plan that is being developed. The Wellington Guelph Drug Strategy and Wellington Dufferin Guelph Public Health are currently working on a comprehensive assessment of need and opportunities in our community. We will work together to ensure our services meet the current and future needs of the community,” the statement said.

“The current overdose crisis in Guelph is far-reaching, and the OPS is one part of a multi-pronged approach to managing it.”

Syringe distribution in Guelph has nearly tripled in the past six years and nearly doubled in the last two years.

In the past 12 months the Stay Sharp program has distributed roughly 278,000 syringes at the Community Health Centre to an average of 35 daily visitors.


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