The Board of Health for the Middlesex-London Health Unit (MLHU) voted Thursday to seek an extension for its temporary overdose prevention site at 186 King St.
The unanimous vote comes amid a looming deadline for the site, which first opened its doors on Feb. 12.
In January, the provincial government approved one-time funding of $130,700 for the temporary site. That funding will last until Aug. 15.
Medical Officer of Health and CEO for the MLHU, Dr. Chris Mackie, told Global News Radio 980 CFPL there are two routes forward with the extension they seek.
The first would have the provincial government grant a three- or six-month extension, which would likely be enough time to keep the temporary site running until the permanent facilities on 241 Simcoe St. and 446 York S. are ready.
The second would be for a federal extension, which would permit the temporary site to operate until permanent locations are up and running, even if that takes longer than six months.
“We could potentially apply for 186 King Street to be an interim site under that federal approval.”
The fate of supervised injection sites in Ontario has come into question since the Progressive Conservatives came into provincial power.
Back in April, PC Leader and now Premier Doug Ford said he “doesn’t believe in” supervised injection sites.
Despite Ford’s past comments, Mackie expects the MLHU to continue receiving provincial support.
“This is a premier who, in his throne speech, talked about how important it was to be treating mental health and addictions,” said Mackie.
“We don’t see the words ‘addiction’ or ‘mental health’ mentioned in a lot of throne speeches.”
Mackie added that he has faith in Ontario’s minister of health Christine Elliott, who previously served as the province’s first-ever patient ombudsman.
“I’m pretty confident that she will be a reasonable person to work with.”
Mackie described the near six months since the site first opened in February as a “roaring success.”
“We’ve seen over 4,000 client visits, about 1,500 unique individuals. Even long-established services aren’t able to reach those numbers so quickly.”
Six overdoses have been reported at the site. In these cases, five people were treated with oxygen while a sixth was administered naloxone.
The site, which averages 55 visits per weekday, has also seen 31 clients referred to Addiction Services Thames Valley, dozens referred to mental health and housing services, and seven referred to hospitals.
Not a single overdose death has occurred in or around the site.
— With files from Mike Stubbs
Comments