A Northern Ontario strategy to deal with the opioid crisis

A strategy is being developed to help our area’s high opioid death rate.

Public Health Sudbury and Districts will be discussing their strategy, called Sounding The Alarm, to deal with the crisis at its regular meeting today.

According to the agenda, the proposed strategy will have Northern Ontario health units come together as a coalition to investigate calls for action.

The latest statistics provided by the health unit shows 105 people died within the jurisdiction in 2020, nearly doubling 2019’s 56 deaths.

In 2018, only 32 people died of opioid-related overdoses.

A recent report by Public Health Ontario shows Northern Ontario health units reported some of the highest opioid-related deaths per 100,000 population in the entire province.

This included Algoma Public Health, North Bay Parry Sound District Health, Public Health Sudbury and Thunder Bay District Health.

For the agenda package, click https://www.phsd.ca/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/21-02__Full_BoardEffect_BOH_Meeting_Package_2021-05-20.pdf? and/or visit the website: https://www.phsd.ca/about/board-health/meeting-dates-agendas-and-minutes-sudbury-district-board-of-health/ for the link.

Today’s meeting also includes a report from the Medical Officer of Health Dr. Penny Sutcliffe where addresses the effort to find a venue for a supervised consumption site.