A group of doctors advocating for overdose-prevention sites for hospital patients set up a pop-up site outside Comox Valley Hospital on Monday morning.
Similar pop-up sites have been set up outside Nanaimo Regional General Hospital and Victoria’s Royal Jubilee Hospital since November by a group of 91原创 Island addictions specialists called Doctors for Safer Drug Policy.
The goal is to provide a drug-use space for hospital patients who might otherwise use illicit drugs in stairwells, bathrooms or off hospital grounds, says organizer Dr. Eva Hemmerich, an addiction and family medicine physician in Courtenay-Comox.
“It is tragic and infuriating to hear of patients dying alone from overdose in hospital bathrooms, hallways or parking lots because there is nowhere safe for them to smoke their substance that they need to control their withdrawal, when we know that an OPS could have prevented that,” Hemmerich said in a statement.
The pop-ups are also intended to draw attention to the province’s “unfulfilled promise to address the safety of patients who use drugs and the staff who care for them.”
Island Health documents published late last year show overdose-prevention sites planned for Nanaimo Regional General Hospital, Royal Jubilee Hospital and North Island Hospital in Campbell River were paused in April “on government direction.”
Nurses had complained that patients with addictions were smoking and injecting street drugs in hospital rooms and hallways, potentially putting staff and others at risk.
A public outcry followed, prompting the province to emphasize that smoking and injecting drugs in hospital was prohibited. Adding confusion to the issue, former Health Minister Adrian Dix initially seemed to say there would be overdose-prevention sites at or near all hospitals, only to later say that would not be the case.
In April, the province said it was conducting a review to establish minimum service standards for overdose-prevention sites across the province, both in hospitals and in the community, saying that once the review is completed, sites could be considered where appropriate, including in hospitals.
Osborne said Monday the province continues to work toward those minimum standards “so we can ensure that overdose-prevention sites near or on hospital sites are done in a way that’s safe for patients, putting their care first and foremost as well for people and health care workers in facilities.”
She said she recently spoke to the doctors’ group setting up the pop-ups and expressed gratitude for the work that people are doing at supervised-consumption and overdose-prevention sites across the province.
“I did have that opportunity to meet with Doctors for Safer Drug Policy and I really appreciate the care and compassion they have for people,” she said.
St. Paul’s Hospital in downtown 91原创 has opened a fully ventilated rooftop overdose-prevention site.
Dr. Erin Gregory, an addiction and family medicine physician in Comox, said it’s understandable that hospital staff are distressed by potential exposure to fumes on the wards, as well as dealing with sudden overdoses, but a hospital-based overdose-prevention site would alleviate “these added work stressors.”
In a year-end interview with the Times 91原创 in December, Eby said: “We need to be able to support patients to not go out, to not be using in the bathrooms of the rooms and the stairwells and those kinds of things.”
He also said the overriding priority is that doctors, nurses, hospital staff, patients and visitors be safe while in hospitals.
While Eby said there are no plans for overdose-prevention sites at Royal Jubilee or Nanaimo hospital at this point, “our commitment is to do our best to support those addictions doctors and the patients and the people who are using the hospital to make sure it is safe for them.”
The Heath Ministry said Friday an update on the province’s task force will be provided soon.
