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The minister of Mental Health and Addictions, Judy Darcy, announced the province is investing $3 million this year to the Community Crisis Innovation Fund. The goal is to provide support to communities across B.C.
The initial $1.5 million will be distributed to the 18 communities hit the hardest by the overdose crisis.
Those communities are: Kelowna, Kamloops, Vernon, Prince George, Fort St. John, Vancouver, Richmond, Powell River, Surrey, Langley, Abbotsford, Maple Ridge, Chilliwack, Victoria, Campbell River, Nanaimo, Duncan and Port Alberni.
Community Action Teams (CAT) will be mobilized to the 18 communities.
Minister Judy Darcy announces that Abbotsford will receive support of on-the-ground Community Action Teams (CATs) and dedicated funding to advance the ongoing work of the Multistakeholder #Abbotsford Opiod Working Group in combatting the opioid crisis and saving lives. pic.twitter.com/4qzuuQ8Db2
— City of Abbotsford (@City_Abbotsford) February 1, 2018
"The Community Action Teams are what I call boots on the ground and they will play a vital role in targeting resources where they are needed the most in the hardest hit communities," said minister Darcy.
CAT will focus on four main tasks:
1. Expanding community-based harm-reduction services.
2. Increasing the availability of naloxone kits.
3. Addressing the unsafe drug supply through expanded drug-checking services and increasing connections to addiction-treatment medications.
4. Proactively supporting people at risk of overdose by intervening early to provide services like treatment and housing.
Thank you @DarcyJudy for inviting us to today's announcement about the BC communities receiving support from new 'Community Action Teams' dedicated to helping address the overdose crisis. #harmreduction #StopOverdose #professionaladvocacy pic.twitter.com/MYolzORngt
— ARNBC (@BCRNs) February 1, 2018
Abbotsford was identified as one of the 18 communities with the most urgent need, where 49 people died last year. Each of the 18 communities will be allotted $100,000 in one-time funding to work on the above four tasks.
"The numbers are staggering and the human impact is unspeakable and all of us here believe that we must do more and we can do more and we will," said Darcy, adding "indigenous people are dying at a rate of three times the population."
Darcy added the funding will go beyond the 18 listed communities and more will be added as the needs are identified.
This announcement comes after yesterday's staggering numbers on the 1,422 people who died last year in B.C. from illicit drug overdoses, equating to four people dying per day.
Darcy was joined by representatives from B.C.'s Overdose Emergency Response Centre, as well as the Fraser Health Authority and First Nations Health Authority and community leaders.
The minister also thanked everyone involved in providing front line service: "I cannot say enough about the dedication and sacrifice of everyone on the front lines of this crisis. I want to thank you for your heroic efforts every single day to save lives. I want to thank you for doing everything you possibly can to create pathways to recovery and to hope."
On April 14, 2016, provincial health officer, Dr. Perry Kendall declared a public health emergency due to the significant rise in opioid-related overdose deaths in B.C.
This declaration allowed for ministries to take action in gathering, analyzing and reporting information on the issue.
Last September, the province allocated $322 million over the next three years to saving lives of people impacted by the opioid crisis.
In December 2017, the province launched the Overdose Emergency Response Centre with the purpose of mobilizing resources to regions across B.C.
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