Saskatoon COVID isolation hotel helps drug users quarantine safely

A Saskatoon hotel has spent the pandemic serving as an assisted self-isolation site — a place for people to go if they have tested positive for COVID-19 and don't have a safe place to stay. 

And in this case, the Saskatchewan Health Authority (SHA) understands 'safety' to mean more than the risk of transmitting COVID-19 in the community. 

Individuals spending their quarantine at an isolation site have access to doctors, nurses, medications, mental health professionals, addiction counselors and elders. 

In Saskatoon, the SHA has also contracted Prairie Harm Reduction (PHR) to organize supervised drug consumption on-site for people who need it. 

Jason Mercredi, PHR's executive director, says this has been a smooth and fruitful working relationship for everyone involved since the partnership started about a month ago. 

"We are grateful the SHA contacted us and asked to partner with us," he said. "And it's been a breeze working with the Health Authority on this, to be honest. They move mountains. … 

"I can't say enough good things about the frontline staff at SHA and the leadership at SHA for being innovative on this and being responsive to the needs of the clientele."

Last year, Health Canada created an exemption to the federal Controlled Drugs and Substances Act, allowing people in temporary self-isolation sites to use illicit drugs without facing criminal charges. This means people don't have to fear going into withdrawal — or going to jail — if they test positive for COVID-19 and need to isolate. 

Saskatchewan's Minister for Mental Health, Addictions, Seniors and Rural and Remote Health Everett Hindley said the province's self-isolation sites have been serving particularly vulnerable members of the community since the start of the pandemic. 

"They are utilized by individuals who have tested positive with COVID-19 and need to self-isolate, but for any number of reasons they are not able to - perhaps they live in a crowded house, or they might be homeless," he said. "The intention is to allow a vulnerable population to have the ability to isolate safely and also be supported at the same time."

Supervision mostly digital

In the month since PHR staff arrived on site, they have offered digital supervision — using video conferencing to observe from a safe distance — and going into rooms only when necessary. 

"It's been new for us, the digital stuff, but it's good," said Mercredi. 

The province's self-isolation sites all have harm reduction supplies available, a decision Mercredi praised.

"The health authority has been pretty great about offering a safe supply — they've been doing prescription replacements and getting people connected to things like methadone and Suboxone," he said. 

However, after Prairie Harm Reduction's supervised consumption site was again left out of the provincial budget this year, Mercredi is left pondering a "paradox."

"Why, when they know these sites are needed in their own facilities, are they not providing that same level of support when it comes to protecting individuals in the community?" he asked. 

Hindley says the government has prioritized harm reduction, and that they are trying to do so in a sustainable way — making more treatment beds available, expanding access to Naloxone and developing mobile harm reduction busses. 

He says the types of resources available at the assisted isolation sites are important to the physical and mental health of the people residing there — but they were never meant to be permanent. 

"We're hopeful to see the light at the end of the tunnel of COVID-19, but that will eventually end, and so will all these supports," he said. "There's been a variety of supports ... but it will come to an end. 

"Addiction, however, unfortunately, is an ongoing issue. We're not going to fix it in one year or two years. And we need to make sure that we continue to make sustainable long-term investments into this area and try to provide support across the province."