'Surpassing all expectations': New report lauds Winnipeg mobile overdose prevention site
Winnipeg needs more sites like Sunshine House's mobile unit to deal with drug crisis, report adds
Street drugs were consumed more than 7,000 times in relative safety at Sunshine House's mobile overdose prevention site, according to a new report covering a one-year period ending in October 2023.
Among those visits, there were 20 overdoses (representing 0.28 per cent of visitors) and no deaths.
The harm reduction mobile site, known as MOPS, hit the road on Oct. 28, 2022. The converted RV offers people a safe place to use substances where they can also be supervised by staff trained in overdose response.
The 91-page report, which covers its operation from October 2022 to October 2023, was presented Thursday morning during a news conference at the Circle of Life Thunderbird House on Main Street.
"[MOPS] has had a positive impact on marginalized and vulnerable populations, and has successfully reduced the harms associated with substance use," the report states. "[It] is successful and is surpassing all expectations."
In total, there were 26,154 visits to the site in the time frame covered by the report. The site also distributes harm reduction supplies, including clean needles and pipes. As well, hundreds of tests were done on drugs using a machine that analyzes chemical makeup.
Drugs were consumed 7,086 times during that period, according to the report.
Naloxone — which reverses the effects of opioid drugs and can stop an overdose — was administered on 82 occasions. There were four instances when someone was transported to hospital — at their request each time.
"As a community, we all knew what we were doing and we knew it had to be done. We worked from that purpose," MOPS program co-ordinator Davey Cole said on Thursday.
"[But] the community was the one that really solidified how this works and how well it works."
Success extends beyond site: author
Sunshine House hired Lahrk Consulting, a local consulting firm, to prepare the new report, which is based on data collected at the site, as well as interviews, focus groups and surveys. Researchers spoke with more than 600 people over the course of 10 months for the report.
"I want to state that this evaluation was done as independently as possible. We really wanted to be mindful of that," Sunshine House executive director Levi Foy said on Thursday.
The report comes shortly after after Manitoba's chief medical examiner said 2023 is on pace to set a new record for drug-related deaths in the province, with year-end preliminary data for 2023 indicating 445 people died last year from drug-related causes.
An overwhelming number of people interviewed for the report spoke about the "profound" impact the site has had on vulnerable individuals, community organizations and Winnipeg's core neighbourhood, the report states.
"We heard an amazing number of stories. We gathered a lot of insights about how all of the process works," said Kerniel Aasland, one of the report's authors, at Thursday's event.
"We heard from many, many different people [community organizations and MOPS visitors] that one of the successes of the overdose prevention site is that it actually reduces costs on the health-care system, so this is part of the success that extends far beyond MOPS itself.
"When people avoid overdoses … it also means they avoid going to the hospital."
MOPS's success extends beyond the data, Aasland said, noting he was told by many users that it helped them connect with other services and supports through referrals from staff and other users.
"It is a great place for people to share information, often in ways … just not available [to them otherwise]," he said, adding many users are very low income with no phones and little or no accessibility to the internet.
"This program has saved lives and changed lives, and continues to serve Winnipeg's vulnerable populations with care and compassion," the report states.
'A pirate ship in a parking lot'
The site was launched in response to the growing toxic drug crisis across Canada. The report says many provinces had responded by providing supervised places for people to use drugs with sterile equipment and supplies in a monitored space, but Manitoba had failed to do so.
Funding for MOPS has largely come from Health Canada and the Winnipeg Foundation. Sunshine House also raised funds through grants, crowdfunding, bake sales, donation drives and drag shows, Foy said.
The RV, which travels around Winnipeg's core area five days a week, is overseen by a co-ordinator and run by staff and people Sunshine House calls peers — those who have used drugs or currently use them.
"The peers successfully created a warm and welcoming environment, and shaped programs and services to the specific needs of users," the report says.
Foy jokingly called the RV "a pirate ship in a parking lot," but on a more serious note, said it is a "highly imperfect model" that is not sustainable. What's absolutely needed is a permanent safe consumption site, he said.
"Having 3,000 visits in a month at an RV in a parking lot in the middle of winter is not an effective health-care model."
The report echoed that, saying MOPS "is not a solution to the entirety of [the toxic drug] crisis. One mobile overdose prevention site is nowhere near enough to meet the size and scale of the challenge."
Opioid-related deaths increased nearly fivefold in Manitoba between 2019 and 2021, according to a study released this week that calls for enhanced harm reduction policies throughout the country.
University of Toronto researchers investigated accidental opioid-related deaths in nine Canadian provinces and territories — including all three on the Prairies — with Manitoba seeing the most severe rise in overdose deaths among drug users aged 30 to 39.
The MOPS report advocates for the creation of several supervised consumption sites in Winnipeg.
Manitoba's NDP government has committed to help fund a safe consumption site in the city, with Premier Wab Kinew saying when the provincial budget was released that such a site is expected to open next year.
Sunshine House is part of a group of organizations hoping to open one in downtown Winnipeg.
The province hasn't announced yet whether it's accepted the group's proposal.
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With files from The Canadian Press's Brittany Hobson