MEDIA
April 16 CBC
Manitoba should declare public health emergency amid spike in drug-related deaths, groups sayStaff members at the North End Women's Centre prevented four overdoses with naloxone in the last four days, executive director Cynthia Drebot said. Staff also monitored an additional 14 people as they dipped "in and out of consciousness" after using drugs in the same timeframe, she said.
"It's scary because we're needing to check on people and be kind of on top of them all day, making sure that they're not slipping into an overdose situation," she told CBC News on Thursday.
Many other front-line organizations are in a similar boat, Drebot said.
"We've become de facto safer consumption sites for people who use substances because the drugs are so toxic and people are not looking to die," she said.
A public health emergency will make the drug crisis a top priority, Drebot said.
"How can so many people have died already, and how can so many people be kept alive by these measures without it being considered a public health emergency?" she said. "That's a question I think we all have."
WFP April 16
‘Give us a chance’: Supervised drug-site operators commit to neighbourhood with transparency, security, zero tolerance for dealersCynthia Drebot, executive director of the North End Women’s Centre, said staff are spending more time responding to overdoses in the agency’s Selkirk Avenue community than delivering core programming, including the centre’s drop-in.
“We’re all bracing for more, and we already feel we’re at our stretched point,” she said.
WFP April 16
Groups call for emergency declaration as OD deaths soarCynthia Drebot, executive director of the North End Women’s Centre, echoed Mahmood’s call for provincial action and emphasized that people with addiction must be viewed as human beings.
“This has been going on for five years at this intensity,” she said, adding they dealt with four overdoses alone on Monday. They were able to save each person.
She said the centre’s OD-prevention work has expanded beyond its Selkirk Avenue location. Local businesses have asked for training and naloxone kits, while the growing crisis is stretching resources.
“We’re all bracing for more, and we already feel we’re at our stretched point,” she said.
“Our teams are taking care of people who … would be visiting the safer consumption site,” Drebot said.