The Director of Public Health Programs with the Windsor-Essex County Health Unit says it's always concerning to see increases in the rates of overdoses in the region.
Eric Nadalin says this concern continues after an opioid alert was issued by the Health Unit on Tuesday afternoon.
This is the fourth alert to be issued since mid-March. Prior to the alert issued in March, the last recorded opioid alert by the Health Unit was in mid-September, 2023.
All of the last four alerts saw between 13 to 16 opioid overdose emergency department visits.
While these alerts can't necessarily be linked to the pause in operations at the SafePoint site as there were still alerts issued while the site was open, SafePoint recorded 859 client visits with 182 unique clients accessing services between April and October 2023.
The SafePoint site saw those visiting for consumption, but also wraparound services such as primary care and social services.
Nadalin says it's always concerning to see these increases.
"We monitor at the Health Unit, this is one of our core functions is to monitor different health issues in the region. And when see spikes in different health issues, including overdoses, it's our obligation to notify the community of what they can do to keep themselves safe."
He says the Health Unit wants to ensure that those who are using substances are doing so safely.
"Our message on that is to not use alone, not use by yourself, always start low and go slow with the quantities that you're consuming. Avoid mixing substances, don't mix with alcohol, don't mix with cannabis, and other substances that might add to the affect that an opioid might cause."
He says Hotel-Dieu Grace Healthcare has a number of services available, as does the Health Unit.
"We would always direct folks to visit our website at wechu.org/gethelp, and that's a page that's dedicated to helping people find referrals for substance use to contact the appropriate agency for them, and to find the treatment services that are most appropriate."
Nadalin says at this time there has been no update on the SafePoint site as they for the results of the provincial critical incident review, and ultimately the approval of funding to operate the site.
SafePoint paused services on January 1, 2024.
In response to the issue of the SafePoint site, Windsor-Tecumseh Conservative MPP Andrew Dowie issued a response that states, "I have not found evidence that safe injection sites are intended by design to reduce overdoses, nor that shows overdoses dropping because of the opening of safe injection sites. My understanding has always been that that’s not what the intent is for this service."
His statement goes on to say, "The philosophy is “Harm Reduction,” which provides staffed help to assist the users make choices about their consumption and helping address the consequences of their consumption. They would warn potential users of the risks of their drugs and then make a valiant effort to revive and save someone who does overdose."
