Demand unexpectedly high at year-old supervised injection trailer
Illicit drugs becoming more and more potent, requiring more and more antidote, staff say
One year after Shepherds of Good of Hope opened a trailer for supervised injections near the ByWard Market, staff say they are accepting twice as many clients as they predicted.
Medical professionals staff the trailer — located in the Shepherds of Good Hope's parking lot on King Edward Avenue near Murray Street — to provide clean injection equipment and supervise clients as they ingest the drugs, all in an effort to reduce the risk of overdosing.
They're also equipped with Narcan, which contains naloxone, an opioid overdose antidote.
Louise Beaudoin, a nurse co-ordinator with Shepherds of Good Hope, said illicit street drugs have only become more dangerous since they opened the trailer.
"Last year when we had overdoses, we gave two maybe three shots of Narcan. Now we're up to seven shots of Narcan before the person actually wakes up. So the drugs are way harder than they used to be," Beaudoin said.
And carfentanil, an opioid chemically similar to fentanyl but far more powerful, is being seen more often, she added.
No deaths in trailer
The trailer serves up to 180 clients per day and sees an average of seven overdoses per day, Beaudoin said, adding that they've been "lucky" no one has died inside.
"We had two taken away that died in hospital, but in the actual trailer we haven't lost — touch wood — anybody yet because staff are there and respond instantly," she said.
The relationship with neighbours hasn't always been easy, but Beaudoin said they're providing an important service.
"If the trailer wasn't there, people would be using in the parks, parking lots, washrooms, at McDonald's, pretty much anywhere, and people would be dying everywhere," she said.
The recently elected Ontario government has decided that supervised drug consumption will remain part of the province's response to the opioid crisis.
However, it will require facilities to reapply for accreditation and consult more with communities.
Shepherds of Good Hope is planning to submit its application in the coming weeks.
With files from Radio-Canada's Martin Robert