Gabriola sees increase in overdose calls in 2024

, Sounder file photo

Sounder News

Paramedics with the BC Emergency Health Services have responded to a total of 29 overdose/poisoning patient calls on Gabriola this year, as of December 2, 2024.

In 2023, there were a total of 17 calls for overdoses on Gabriola.

According to the BC Coroners Service, there have been two deaths on Gabriola, and 1,925 province-wide, attributed to unregulated drug toxicity – as of the end of October 2024.

The majority of the overdose calls on Gabriola took place in the first half of 2024, with 13 calls in May, five in January, and five in September.

According to Dyan Dunsmoor-Farley with the Gabriola Health and Wellbeing Collaborative, the Collaborative has as one of its priorities the need to address the impacts of the poisoned drug crisis on Gabriolans.

She said a subcommittee – the Poisoned Drug Action Table – has been established bringing together representatives from Island Health, the Gabriola Medical Clinic, the Gabriola Health Care Foundation, People for a Healthy Community (PHC), AIDS Vancouver Island (AVI), and the Gabriola community outreach worker.

Dunsmoor-Farley said, “recognizing the critical need to support families who have been, and are currently, impacted by this crisis, a Family Member Advisory table has been established to guide the work in a respectful and meaningful way. There has never been a greater need for us to come together as a community to prevent more deaths and to support our families.”

According to BC EHS media staff, BC EHS paramedics and medical emergency call takers have saved the lives of many patients who have suffered adverse reactions to toxic drug poisonings and overdoses. The BC Coroners Service reports the vast majority of illicit drug toxicity deaths happen when people use alone as there is no one with them to call 9-1-1.

BCEHS staff stressed the importance of not using alone, going slow, using the Connect by Lifeguard app if someone does use alone, and calling 9-1-1 if someone is found who may be experiencing an overdose.

Staff wrote, “members of the public may also consider carrying naloxone, a medication that quickly reverses the effects of an overdose from opioids such as heroin, methadone, fentanyl and morphine. It is available in BC without a prescription. For more information: https://towardtheheart.com/naloxone”