The city has released a report Wednesday morning outlining the current and upcoming costs of battling the opioid crisis in Vancouver.
The report posted to the city’s website gives an overview of the “extraordinary expenditures” paid to help stem off the public health crisis that was causing death and injury due to opioid use and overdose by Vancouver residents.
In December 2016, the City of Vancouver approved a small property tax hike, which was intended to help address the opioid overdose crisis. Councillors passed a budget that included a 0.5 per cent property-tax increase to support front-line service providers, which is in addition to the 3.4 per cent increase already in place to deal with the fentanyl crisis.
What measures have been taken and how has the city spent the money?
The report shows the City Manager, who said the investments below were “practical, immediate measures”, paid for two significant expenses related to the crisis.
Mobile Medical Unit in the Downtown Eastside
The first, $55,000 was used to pay for the Mobile Medical Unit, which was deployed by Vancouver Coastal Health (VCH) and Provincial Health Services Authority (PHSA) to help with the increased volume of overdose cases happening in the Downtown Eastside (DTES) and provide emergency and addiction treatment in that neighbourhood.
The city said VCH has agreed to reimburse the $55,000.
READ MORE: Health minister to tour new medical unit in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside
Vancouver Fire and Rescue Services
Another large expense went to ramping up the Vancouver Fire and Rescue Service’s (VFRS) capacity on the DTES in December.
Firefighters were often the front-line workers in the DTES and were feeling the strain after responding to the thousands of overdoses in 2016 alone.
“It’s not practical,” Vancouver Fire Chief John McKearney said at the time about the staffing situation. “I can’t just leave it to two units down there. We don’t know where this is going.”
In December, the city said that firefighters responded to 745 calls about drug overdoses in November, and crews had to use the overdose-reversing drug naloxone 35 times.
Naloxone Training and Public Forum
Roughly $9,000 was spent by the city to coordinate a naloxone training event as well as a the Mayor’s public forum to raise awareness and identify key priorities. The two events were recommended by the DTES community members who volunteer on the Mayor’s Task Force on Mental Health and Addictions.
According to the city’s report, about 300 DTES residents attended the one-day training event, where naloxone kits were given to everyone attending the event. The drug reverses opioid overdoses, such as those caused by fentanyl.
For the Mayor’s Forum in December 2016, there were more than 200 people in attendance.
B.C. to announce latest drug overdose numbers
The recent statistics released by the British Columbia government on Wednesday shows the number of illicit drug overdose deaths in the province continues to rise.
December saw 142 overdose deaths – the highest number of overdose deaths ever recorded in a single month in the province. That averages nine deaths every two days and beats the record set in November with 128 deaths.
The December deaths bring the provisional number for the whole of 2016 to a total of 914, an increase of almost 80 per cent over the number of deaths in the previous year (510).
B.C. has been ground zero for an opioid overdose crisis precipitated in part by the arrival of the deadly opioid fentanyl, which led the province’s chief medical officer to declare a state of emergency last April.
Three Initiatives for Council approval in 2017
While the city says it’s working on several “potential” investments in 2017 to continue to respond to the crisis, there are three initiatives ready for council’s approval. The funding for the three initiatives will be allocated from the city’s contingency reserve.
The initiatives include:
- Continuing the VFRS’s deployment of an incremental three-person medic unit (subject to demand). Ongoing Cost: $1.9 million
- Establishing a new Community Policing Centre (CPC) in the Strathcona neighbourhood, which does not currently have one, and enhancing funding for the existing CPCs. Ongoing Cost: $108,200; One-time cost: $100,000
- Expanding naloxone administration and mental health and addiction training for City and Parks staff One-time Cost: $10,000
Included in the estimated costs for the city’s 2017 initiatives is an on-going inflation cost to the operating funding for 11 CPCs of about $220,000.
This brings the total recommended funding by the city to a little over $2 million in ongoing costs and $110,000 in one-time costs.
According to the report, the total funds available in the 2017 contingency fund for the opioid crisis is $3.5 million and the remaining amount after the above expenditures is $1.4 million.
~ with files from Canadian Press
Comments