Pubdate: Tue, 23 Jan 2018
Source: Metro (Vancouver, CN BC)
Copyright: 2018 Metro Canada
Contact:  http://www.metronews.ca/vancouver
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/3775
Author: Tessa Vikander
Page: 7

NEW INJECTION SITE WAITS TO SAVE LIVES

Vancouver VCH will offer many services in one location Tuesday,
January 23, 2018

Vancouver Coastal Health has built a new supervised injection site.
But until Health Canada approves the health authority's application,
it will sit empty.

The new room, built especially to offer injection-drug users a
supervised place to shoot up, is part of the new Heatley Community
Health Centre.

It's designed to offer what its creators call "wrap-around" health
care to patients from the Downtown Eastside. And its completion comes
in the middle of the worst overdose crisis in B.C.'s history that saw
over 1,200 British Columbians die from illicit drug overdoses in 2017.

The room is ready and waiting to host up to three people at a time,
said Bonnie Wilson, inner city director of mental health and substance
use at Vancouver Coastal Health.

"It's up to Health Canada right now, we have an application in," she
said Monday at a press conference. "We're ready to go as soon as we
get the OK from Health Canada."

The supervised injection site will add to the growing number of spaces
where people can consume drugs with medical supervision. In July, VCH
opened a five-booth injection site one block over at 528 Powell St.

The Heatley Street injection site is located near the front of the
building, in a room directly behind the reception desk. Supervised
in-clinic drug consumption is one of many health services that VCH is
now offering under one roof.

"Clients will no longer have to travel to multiple sites and engage
with multiple teams to address their needs," Wilson said.
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MAP posted-by: Matt