The post Newsletter #25: June 2021 appeared first on Pacific Public Health Foundation.

In April 2021 alone, nearly 6 (5.9) people died each day—the highest number of overdose deaths ever recorded in the month of April.

The overdose crisis is worsening because of the COVID-19 pandemic, which has led to a staggering increase in overdoses and deaths, and First Nations people in BC are disproportionately and severely impacted.

“The devastating impact of the toxic drug crisis on BC’s First Nations people, families, and communities cannot be ignored. This issue will not be resolved without the continued support and commitment of health service partners, and First Nations leaders. We must continue to work together to reduce the impact of drug toxicity on First Nations people.”

-Richard Jock, CEO of the First Nations Health Authority

Compassion, Inclusion, & Engagement (CIE) is a partnership program between the BC Centre for Disease Control, the First Nations Health Authority, and the BCCDC Foundation, that empowers people with lived and living experience of substance use (peers) to take action and stop overdose in their community. The work that peers do is based in public health, saving lives, and ending the overdose crisis.

You can help protect lives in BC by donating to CIE today.

How CIE supports peers and makes an immediate impact

• CIE funds peer groups providing overdose response and safe injection services in local communities, particularly where overdose prevention sites and services don’t exist.
• CIE supports peers delivering harm reduction services, clean and safe supplies, and training.
• CIE helps peers establish meaningful connections for people in their communities.
• CIE groups work to eliminate stigma and drug policy-related harms which are significant contributors to the overdose crisis.

Thanks to you, we reached our first target of $30,000! The need is increasing, so we’ve increased our goal to $60,000 and we need your continued support to help us reach our new target. Will you help us get there?

Each CIE peer group is eligible for a grant of up to $10,000; the more we raise, the more groups across BC we can support. But we can’t do it without you.

We can’t risk losing any more of our friends and family to the overdose crisis. We must work together and act now to prevent further deaths.

Please, consider donating today to support CIE and save lives.

Want to learn more about CIE? Check out this guest blog post “Compassion, Inclusion, & Engagement: The Role of Peers in the Overdose Crisis” written by the CIE team at the BC Centre for Disease Control.

The post Help Put an End to BC’s Overdose Crisis: Support Peers on the Frontlines appeared first on Pacific Public Health Foundation.

The post Newsletter #21: February 2021 appeared first on Pacific Public Health Foundation.

For those affected by substance use, supporting someone who is using drugs, engaged in harm reduction and overdose prevention work, or connected to the peer community, COVID-19 has not replaced the overdose crisis, instead, it has compounded it.

In 2019, overdose rates were steadily decreasing in BC, but as COVID-19 took hold, we started to see the number of overdose deaths creeping up again, until we sadly had our worst month ever in June 2020 when 185 people died in our province from overdose.

Between April 2016 and December 2020, 6,078 people died of overdose in BC, and 901 people were taken too early by COVID-19.

We know the toll COVID-19 is taking on our essential workers and are deeply grateful for their heroic efforts. Peers are often the overdose prevention “front line” workers in their communities, yet, preventing and reversing overdose among their friends, neighbours and family with little support or recognition.

CIE has been working with peers in communities across the province to build networks of support and improve harm reduction and overdose prevention services.

CIE provides small community grants to peer groups who are an essential part of the network of support across the province, and the BCCDC Foundation has provided much of the funding for these grants since 2018. Grant funding has enabled peers to stay connected during COVID-19 by providing access to technology and ongoing outreach activities like community lunch programs.

Since 2018, peer groups who have received CIE community grants have created supportive peer connections, as well as building bridges to their communities. Peer groups have organized community clean up efforts, created connections with local businesses, municipal governments and community groups, as well as participating in the provincial opioid overdose response by contributing to planning tables like Community Action Teams.

At CIE, we are guided by the principles of harm reduction and firmly believe that peers are the experts in their lives and their communities. With the BCCDC Foundation’s help, we hope to continue to support peers in BC to build and sustain supportive networks, create connections in their communities, and be a strong and influential voice in decisions that affect their lives.

As Johann Hari said in his TedTalk in 2015, “The opposite of addiction is connection.” If COVID has taught us anything, it is how very true this is.

Supporting peers to stay connected during this very stressful time is more important than ever. Providing support directly to those most affected by service disruptions and exposed to a toxic, deadly street drug supply is a tangible step toward a truly equitable approach to health.

Additional resources:

• Johann Hari TEDTalk
• Principles of Harm Reduction
• CCSA Report on the impacts of COVID-19 on people who use substances
• Nothing about us without us

*Bios:
Sally Maguet is the lead for CIE. She has a public health background and works on projects that support Indigenous Cultural Safety, harm reduction, and climate change adaptation.

Charlene Burmeister is a provincial peer coordinator for CIE and has been working in research and harm reduction for over 12 years.

Marnie Scow is a provincial peer coordinator with CIE with over 10 years experience providing and managing harm reduction services, and bringing an Indigenous perspective to research, education and harm reduction approaches. 

Laura Moore is CIE’s project coordinator. She has a Master’s of Health Administration and has been working in harm reduction for many years supporting research and capacity building projects across the province. 

The post Compassion, Inclusion and Engagement: The Role of Peers in the Overdose Crisis appeared first on Pacific Public Health Foundation.