Pubdate: Fri, 06 Jan 2017
Source: Langley Times (CN BC)
Copyright: 2017 Langley Times
Contact:  http://www.langleytimes.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1230
Author: Michael Marchbank

FRASER HEALTH WORKING HARD TO ADDRESS OVERDOSE CRISIS

Editor: In 2016, British Columbians faced the public health emergency that
is the overdose crisis.

As of Nov. 30, 755 people in our province had died last year due to an
overdose - 259 of those deaths occurring in the Fraser Health region.

That's 259 sons, daughters, partners and friends who have lost their lives
to an issue that has impacted our society at all levels.

In our region of 1.8 million people, the overdose crisis has touched all
of our communities.

How does a health authority manage something like this?

We mobilized to develop and execute an aggressive overdose strategy,
tackling the problem with multiple approaches, including prevention, harm
reduction and treatment.

We combined our efforts in our communities and hospitals.

Across our region, 56 sites - including all of our emergency departments
and public health units - are now equipped to distribute take-home
naloxone. By the end of October, we distributed more than 2,300 kits,
helping to save countless lives.

We also developed and implemented a safe prescription policy for
opioid-based medications in all emergency department's across the region.

We have held 17 community forums and naloxone training events in
partnership with our municipalities, schools, and the RCMP to prevent
overdoses from occurring and to prepare people in case they do.

We've launched a multi-phased public education campaign targeting all
people who uses substances, and we've produced these materials in ways
that can be easily shared by schools, media outlets and the public.

In October, we partnered with RainCity Housing and Support Society to
develop a regional harm reduction strategy that, among other things, will
connect the most vulnerable patients to health and social services and
find ways to reduce inappropriately discarded needles in our communities.

We recently announced that we're proposing two sites for supervised
consumption services in Surrey, where we've seen the highest number of
overdose deaths.

We're working with the surrounding neighbourhoods and municipal partners
to ensure that we produce measurable, positive results.

We know many people with opioid substance use disorders are seeking
support to address their addiction and there are often questions as to the
most appropriate treatment.

Opioid substitution treatment (the prescription of medications such as
Suboxone and methadone) is the most effective treatment in reducing use of
opioids, improving physical health and reducing death rates.

We're doubling capacity for opioid substitution treatment at our two sites
in Surrey, and we're enhancing these services in Abbotsford and Maple
Ridge.

Over the past 18 months, we've opened dozens of substance use treatment
beds in our region, and we're on track to open another 100 beds in 2017.

We are also working with our partners to ensure that access to opioid
substitution treatment is part of the continuum of care in these
residential substance use disorder services.

While our efforts have produced results in our communities, there is more
to be done.

The public health emergency has impacted us all, and Fraser Health is
committed to being at the forefront of creating positive change.

Michael Marchbank,

President and CEO,

Fraser Health
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