B.C. health minister to tour 'emergency room on wheels'
The Canadian Press | Posted: December 12, 2016 4:42 PM | Last Updated: December 12, 2016
Terry Lake will tour a mobile medical unit that provides emergency aid to overdose victims
Health Minister Terry Lake will tour a mobile medical unit on Vancouver's Downtown Eastside today.
The unit provides emergency aid to people who overdose and is meant to ease the pressure on hospitals and emergency responders from the opioid crisis.
The unit has been described as an "emergency room on wheels", and has been set up at the site of a recently disbanded tent city at 58 West Hastings Street.
- Opioid crisis prompts opening of multiple 'overdose prevention sites'
- It's about to get easier to set up supervised drug injection sites in Canada
Federal Health Minister Jane Philpott is expected to relax the requirements for supervised-injection sites today.
Last week, B.C. opened multiple "overdose-prevention sites" — similar to supervised injection sites — without federal approval.