With communities across Canada struggling with the ravages of opioid abuse, the Northwest Territories is seeing a $760,000 boost to improve treatment programs for remote and incarcerated clients.
SA国际影视传媒淐anada is in the middle of an opioid overdose epidemic and itSA国际影视传媒檚 killing thousands of people every year. The Northwest Territories are not immune to this and weSA国际影视传媒檝e lost many of our community members,SA国际影视传媒� said Dr. Jennifer Harris, a Yellowknife physician leading the treatment program.
The territorySA国际影视传媒檚 opioid maintenance therapy program has been in operation for five years and sees around 30 patients annually. At any given time there are around 10 to 15 patients using the services who are addicted to opiods, including heroin, morphine, oxycodone and fentanyl.
SA国际影视传媒淎ddiction is a chronic illness. It really impacts every aspect of someone's life and requires a multifaceted team approach to address their often severe medical, psychological and social needs,SA国际影视传媒� said Harris.
The funding will allow the territorySA国际影视传媒檚 health providers to meet complex demands. It will also bridge supports for people who receive treatment while incarcerated to maintain continuity of treatment once they are released, she said.
SA国际影视传媒淲e would like to make sure they have continuity between the corrections and when they are in their community. We have had many successes within the Opioid Maintenance Program and have watched people rebuild their lives with this type of support,SA国际影视传媒� she said.
The funding will increase access to opioid agonist therapy, a treatment that uses methadone or suboxone to tackle withdrawal and cravings for opioid drugs.
MP Michael McLeod announced $500,000 in federal support. The GNWT will spend $260,000.
Between January 2016 and June 2018 more than 9,000 Canadians died from opioid-related deaths.
In 2016, five people died in the NWT, with one death in 2017 and and another in 2018, federal statistics show. Deaths are down, in part, thanks to the territorySA国际影视传媒檚 public education campaign, said Health Minister Glen Abernethy.
The federal government allocates portions of the $150-million Emergency Treatment Fund to support provinces and territories based on population and the severity of the crisis in that jurisdiction.
SA国际影视传媒淥pioid-related overdoses continue to have a devastating impact in communities across Canada,SA国际影视传媒� said McLeod.
SA国际影视传媒淭he agreement signed today with the Northwest Territories will provide resources to address substance use disorder in communities outside the major urban centre and will improve access to the resources available in Yellowknife today,SA国际影视传媒� he said.
The new funding will go toward new hires, training to improve knowledge of opioid use disorder for practitioners and identify resource gaps in treatment in communities outside Yellowknife.
GNWT takes up naloxone education
Education campaigns are primarily targeting youth who are the SA国际影视传媒渉ighest riskSA国际影视传媒� group for use of illicit drugs and overdose, said Harris.
Young adults aged 20 to 29 represent 60 per cent of all overdoses. Men make up a majority of opioid deaths SA国际影视传媒� around 80 percent of deaths. Women are 1.7 times as likely to be hospitalized than men.
The GNWT is advising people to access Naloxone kits, which are available free of charge. When administered, Naloxone can temporarily reverse an opioid overdose.
The territorial government is looking to usher in a spray version of Naloxone but has not yet set a date for implementing the new option, said health department spokesperson Damien Healy.
Unprescribed drugs SA国际影视传媒楻ussian Roulette,SA国际影视传媒� says opioid program lead
When illicit fentanyl came to the NWT, it came masked as OxyContin, said Harris.
SA国际影视传媒淏asically youSA国际影视传媒檙e playing Russian Roulette if you are taking any type of pill that wasnSA国际影视传媒檛 prescribed to you. You just never know what youSA国际影视传媒檙e going to get,SA国际影视传媒� she said.
The southern NWT and Yellowknife are hotspots for illegal fentanyl, said Harris.
More remote and Northern communities have less access to heroin and illicit fentanyl, but there is SA国际影视传媒渁lways a possibility of overdose,SA国际影视传媒� said Harris.
People can access the treatment program through telehealth or through regional practitioners, who will be sent to Yellowknife to train to administer suboxone and methadone treatment in their community, she said.
The program coordinates with local physicians and nurses in smaller communities and regional centres with personal training to ensure they are comfortable in providing the regimen safely.
The program will make assessments of which communities are in need of the programming and whether misuse of prescription or illicit opioids are a problem, said Abernethy.
SA国际影视传媒淲e know that the NWT substance abuse rates are higher than other jurisdictions. We know that substance abuse is often one part of multiple challenges that our residents are facing, including past trauma. The federal funding today is helping us on that path,SA国际影视传媒� he said.
The health department will continue to monitor opioid use in the territory but will likely be asking for additional funding in the future, he said.
As he has said repeatedly in the past, the health minister ruled out an addictions treatment centre in the territory for the near future.
SA国际影视传媒淚 would never say that we will never have a bricks-and-mortar treatment centre in the Northwest Territories but at this point, in order to meet the needs of our residents and provide them the options that they want and the alternatives that they want, funding a bricks and mortar facility doesnSA国际影视传媒檛 necessarily meet the needs of our residents,SA国际影视传媒� he said.
Abernethy told reporters that the former NatsSA国际影视传媒檈jee KSA国际影视传媒檈h Treatment Centre in Hay River could not provide the flexible programming available to patients down south, including expedited referrals and getting into facilities within 36 to 48 hours.
SA国际影视传媒淏ottom line is today we have way more options than we have ever had for people who a struggling. We still struggle in certain areas. We need to do better with aftercare and our action plan coming out during this session focuses on some of those things,SA国际影视传媒� said Abernethy.
SA国际影视传媒淭here is no direction to build a bricks and mortar treatment centre, spend that money. WeSA国际影视传媒檇 rather invest in the people and programming,SA国际影视传媒� said Abernethy.
