Why overdose deaths have fallen here - despite more overdose
“Without access to and rapid scale-up of harm reduction and treatment strategies, the number of overdose deaths in BC would be 2.5 times as high”
Filter (US)
Tuesday, January 14, 2020
Tuesday, January 14, 2020
Roughly 66 times every single day in British Columbia, someone calls 911 for a suspected drug overdose. And 66 times every day, an operator answers one of those calls, assesses the situation, and dispatches firefighters or paramedics (never police). And then those professionals rush out and, nearly 66 times every single day, they save a person’s life. “When BCEHS [BC Emergency Health Services] paramedics respond to a potential overdose patient, the patient has a 99 percent chance of survival,” reads an email from Shannon Miller, a spokesperson for the agency. If Vancouver is so great with harm reduction, why are overdose numbers there so high? An analysis of relevant data can help explain.
tags:
