WHALLEY —Fraser Health Authority hopes to have the two proposed Surrey injection sites open this spring.
One site is proposed at the 94A Street Quibble Creek Sobering Centre, and another on 135A Street in partnership with Lookout Emergency Aid Society.
Both would require Section 56 exemptions to allow them to operate. Fraser Health submitted a partial application for the sites on Dec. 30, according to a report to Surrey’s Public Safety Committee.
The report reveals the health authority has signed a formal letter of intent with Britco, allowing them to produce drawings of a trailer that would house supervised consumption services.
The date for that installation is set for April 18, according to the report, but is contingent on the acceptance of the Health Canada exemption.
Information sessions are set for Friday, Feb. 3 (from 7 to 9 p.m.) and Saturday, Feb. 4 (from noon to 2 p.m.) at SFU’s Surrey campus, located at #250-13450 102nd Ave., in classroom 2740, for individuals and establishments who reside within 500 metres of the proposed sites.
To confirm attendance to one of the info sessions, RSVP at Surveymonkey.com/r/fh-scs-register. Feedback can also be submitted online at Fraserhealth.ca/supervisedconsumption.
See more: Fraser Health proposes two safe injection sites in Surrey
Medical Health Officer Dr. Shovita Padhi told Surrey’s public safety committee on Monday that drug overdoses – and deaths – are still high.
“November was by far our worst month in terms of overdose deaths, that’s when we saw the highest peak,” she said.
“Then in December we saw a tapering, we continue to taper right now.”
But it’s not just the street entrenched who need help. Padhi said 70 per cent of the deaths that occurred in the region took place in private residences.
“We need to do a more in-depth analysis,” she told the committee. “Were they interacting with the health care system? Were they taking substitute therapies? Were they males in the resources sector who had injuries, and that led them down path of addiction?
“That is our next phase. We still need to address the individuals who are entrenched and homeless, that is a different population, but for us to really address this crisis and this epidemic… we need to delve deeper into who these individuals are and target out programs effectively,” she said, and find out “who these individuals were first.”
“My inclination is that they were slightly different from the population we’re dealing with on 135A.”
