The number of deaths caused by drug poisoning far exceeds the deaths caused by the COVID-19 pandemic in British Columbia. The BC Coroners Services report states that 1,202 people have died this year from illicit drugs. Many of these fatalities occurred in a private residence when people with an opioid use disorder (OUD) were using at home alone.
Now more than ever, we urgently need community-based harm reduction services and safe supply to support people with opioid dependency.
How healthcare workers are working together to save lives
One group of health professionals tackling the opioid crisis is the Vancouver Best Practices in Oral Opioid Agonist Therapy collaboration (BOOST), which was launched in partnership with the BC Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS (BC-CfE) and Vancouver Coastal Health. In 2017, 20 healthcare teams across Vancouver joined forces with a common goal of improving care for clients living with OUD.
Through the Vancouver BOOST collaboration healthcare workers are now doing a better job of identifying clients lost to care, and then reconnecting them to community healthcare services that are essential in their recovery.
Tracy Rapanos, Director, Community Services at Coast Mental Health, is a member of the BOOST network. Tracy explains that there are a number of barriers that prevent people from reaching the three-month mark of Opioid Agonist Therapy (OAT), which provides treatments that include Suboxone and methadone to treat opioid dependency, reduce drug-related harms, and support long-term recovery.