Mike Ellis, Alberta's associate minister of mental health and addictions, speaks at the Medicine Hat police station Friday about the province's digital overdose response system becoming available in Southeastern Alberta. - NEWS PHOTO JAMES TUBB
jtubb@medicinehatnews.com@ReporterTubb
Medicine Hatters now have more access to recovery-oriented services while battling the illness of addictions.
Mike Ellis, Alberta’s associate minister of mental health and addictions, announced multiple approaches to help battling addiction and the opioid crisis in the city of Medicine Hat and southeastern Alberta during a press conference at the Medicine Hat police station Friday morning.
“Today’s announcement shows clearly that while there is no one solution to the illness of addiction, there are innovative approaches that we can expand and improve on,” Ellis said. “We are ensuring that Albertans have access to the resources they need to stay alive, access treatment no matter where they are and begin their pursuit of recovery and a better life.”
Medicine Hat Police Service will now be able to offer immediate access to addiction treatment for arrested individuals in partnership with the provinces Virtual Opioid Dependency Program that treats those with opioid agonist therapy drugs and provides support and monitoring in an outpatient setting.
Anyone in the province can access the program between 8 a.m. and 8 p.m. by calling 1-844-383-7688.
Alberta recorded its deadliest year on record for drug overdoses in 2021, with more than 1,700 deaths. Medicine Hat had 34 deaths as a result of drug poisoning in 2021.
As well, Ellis announced the government has opened access to the Digital Overdose Response System to residents of Medicine Hat and Southeast Alberta. The app is designed to prevent fatal overdoses among Albertans using opioids and other substances by themselves.
Anyone using the DORS app will receive a call from STARS emergency centre if they do not respond to a timer within the app. EMS will be dispatched to the person’s location if contact cannot be made or an overdose is suspected.
Dr. Nathaniel Day, medical director of the VODP with AHS said the app brings a portion of supervised consumption to every street, home and hotel room, and allows people to access a service that can save their lives.
“The DORS app provides a critical service that supervised consumption sites provide which is the supervision and monitoring of someone that is continuing to use, precisely for the purpose of saving their life,” Day said. “I strongly encourage anybody who is listening to this or reading this in the paper tomorrow, if you’re using opioids download the DORS app, look at it. It is confidential, it is anonymous and it can reach you in your home, where if you are using it can activate EMS and they can come and professionally rescue you in the event of an overdose.”
The provincial government is also providing $825,000 to Medicine Hat organization Our Collective Journey, which helps those struggling with mental health, isolation, addiction issues and more.
Rick Armstrong, executive director of Our Collective Journey, said the money will help the non-profit focus more on their recovery coaching program than fundraising efforts.
“This will enable us to take the focus off solely fundraising and really direct it back to the community,” Armstrong said.
Medicine Hat mayor Linnsie Clark, MH police chief Mike Worden, Brooks-Medicine Hat MLA Michaela Frey and M.P. Glen Motz were also in attendance for the press conference.
“We are very grateful to the province for the added supports to our community,” Clarke said in the press conference. “This has been a very difficult couple of years for everyone… Just like recovery itself, there isn’t going to be one quick fix. There’s no one size fits all solution. But we need to work together to incrementally progress back toward a healthy community, and we all play a role.”
