Aiden Jaager
Saskatoon StarPhoenix
Front line outreach worker Chantelle Huel said barriers are preventing people who are battling addiction from getting the necessary treatment.
“We’re losing people … they’re falling through cracks because of judgment and shame and because we’re not understanding that every person that we meet is actually human and they deserve to live,” said Huel, who works with STR8 UP, a Saskatoon organization founded on helping people leave street gangs.
On Friday, Saskatchewan’s health ministry issued an overdose alert in Saskatoon after 104 overdoses were recorded in the last 10 days, including two fatalities that occurred Monday.
Huel said there needs to be stronger relationships between treatment centres and those who need help.
Just last week, she helped bring three people in for treatment.
“The medical forms are too long in detox, so the doctors don’t wanna sign them and they don’t want to fill them out for an hour. And so, when somebody’s fighting for their life, we’re placing barriers in front of them.”
The Saskatoon Fire Department said the overdoses may be related to opioids and other unknown substances. There is also a higher risk of a fatal overdose with cases requiring multiple doses of Narcan.
The ministry said several patients have also required CPR and hospital intervention.
At a Friday news conference, Saskatchewan NDP shadow minister for mental health and addictions, Betty Nippi-Albright, said at least 270 people have died from a drug overdose in Saskatchewan in the last year.
She said she doesn’t understand why the Saskatchewan Party’s addictions minister, Lori Carr, still doesn’t know how many people are waiting to receive treatment.
“Clearly this intake system still hasn’t launched, and that’s almost two years ago now that they promised to clean this mess up,” Nippi-Albright said.
Carr told reporters on Thursday that once the province centralizes its addictions intake system, she will have a better idea of the exact number.
She said the government is working to open more addictions spaces, and have promised to add 500 new beds in the next five years.
In June, the government announced 17 new addictions spaces.
At the time, 281 beds were operational, accounting for in-patient spaces and intensive outpatient spaces.
Nippi-Albright proposed the NDP’s plan to tackle the crisis, which involves “recruiting and retaining mental health and addictions professionals and creating incentives for those that can work in underserved and remote communities.”
Increasing the capacity of existing and provincially-funded treatment centres is also part of the plan.
The overdose alert will remain in effect until Nov. 26.
