Latest news with #DeMong
Yahoo
21-04-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Saskatoon drug crisis like 'nothing we've ever seen before' puts lives at risk daily: Prairie Harm Reduction
The alarm bells in Saskatoon haven't stopped ringing, as the city continues to grapple with a drug overdose crisis that's jeopardizing lives every day. On Tuesday, the Saskatoon Fire Department reported that it has responded to 935 overdose incidents or suspected opioid poisonings since the start of this year. The department responded to 376 incidents over the same time period last year — less than half of what's been reported this year. Halfway through April, this year's numbers are already approaching the total of 1,282 calls in all of 2024. The fire department cautions that the number of people getting help might actually be higher, because the numbers do not account for how many patients are involved at each call. Kayla DeMong, the executive director of Prairie Harm Reduction, says the crisis is unprecedented. "This is nothing we've ever seen before. It doesn't seem to be going away. Things have plateaued, which doesn't mean they're getting better." Kayla DeMong, the executive director of Prairie Harm Reduction, says the crisis is unprecedented. (CBC) Prairie Harm Reduction — Saskatoon's only supervised consumption site — tests drugs for composition and toxicity, and the city has been "completely saturated" by a toxic drug supply, said DeMong. Last month, the site temporarily paused its operations to give its staff a chance to recover from the trauma of dealing with the overdose crisis head-on. The centre has reopened, but DeMong says the need for help continues. "We were seeing days where all the staff did was revive people their whole shifts, and days where it was four people at a time, six people at a time," she said. This month, the fire department said it had responded to 119 overdose incidents or suspected opioid poisonings as of Tuesday, more than double the 53 calls in April 2024. During a period of just over two weeks last month, the department responded to one overdose call in the city every hour, on average. According to the Saskatchewan Coroners Service, there were 16 confirmed and 76 suspected drug toxicity deaths in the province in the first three months of this year, including seven in Saskatoon. 'So many people dying': advocate David Fineday, an advocate for homeless people who is originally from Sweetgrass First Nation, leads smudging and drum circles in Saskatoon. He says the people he helps have complex needs. The majority are Indigenous and many are living with trauma, including survivors of residential schools and the Sixties Scoop. "It really upsets me for people to just ignore stuff like that when there's so many people dying," he said. "I know eventually everybody has to go, but not like the way that they're letting them go. Overdoses, freezing — that doesn't have to happen in 2025." David Fineday, a front-line worker advocating for people experiencing homelessness, says more social services and housing are desperately needed to get people off the streets and into recovery. (Chanss Langaden/CBC) Last month, Saskatoon Mayor Cynthia Block pointed to a long-term solution: housing. City council has approved 256 affordable housing units in the past six months, about 70 per cent of which have wraparound supports, she said. Council has also approved a study for a navigational hub, meant to be a one-stop shop to help people experiencing homelessness with services, said Block. On March 12, the Saskatchewan government said it would activate its provincial emergency operations centre, led by the Saskatchewan Public Safety Agency, in response to what it termed the "toxic drug crisis" in Saskatoon. The province has also promised additional first responder staff and naloxone kits, but front-line workers say more social services and housing are desperately needed to get people off the streets and into this week, the provincial government introduced legislation that would see fentanyl, methamphetamine and hypodermic needles categorized as street weapons. Amendments to The Safe Public Spaces Act are expected to be passed in the legislature this spring and come into force during the summer, according to a news release by the province Tuesday. Justice Minister Tim McLeod called it a "pivotal step" to ensuring public places are "free from intimidation [and] violence caused by street weapons and illicit drugs." With drug use spilling into Saskatoon libraries, two branches shut their doors to increase security last month, with a plan to reopen next week with beefed up security. But DeMong says moving people around or policies categorizing drugs as street weapons will not address sustained underlying problems. Both she and Fineday say it is key to invest in housing, health care, mental health care, community centres and education. "Imagine what we could do if we were spending the money on these services that are preventative and can intervene in what we're seeing," said DeMong. "All the money we would have — to put into other things rather than overspending on ineffective policies and discriminatory practices that are further criminalizing people in our province."
CBC
20-04-2025
- Health
- CBC
Saskatoon drug crisis like 'nothing we've ever seen before' puts lives at risk daily: Prairie Harm Reduction
The alarm bells in Saskatoon haven't stopped ringing, as the city continues to grapple with a drug overdose crisis that's jeopardizing lives every day. On Tuesday, the Saskatoon Fire Department reported that it has responded to 935 overdose incidents or suspected opioid poisonings since the start of this year. The department responded to 376 incidents over the same time period last year — less than half of what's been reported this year. Halfway through April, this year's numbers are already approaching the total of 1,282 calls in all of 2024. The fire department cautions that the number of people getting help might actually be higher, because the numbers do not account for how many patients are involved at each call. Kayla DeMong, the executive director of Prairie Harm Reduction, says the crisis is unprecedented. "This is nothing we've ever seen before. It doesn't seem to be going away. Things have plateaued, which doesn't mean they're getting better." Prairie Harm Reduction — Saskatoon's only supervised consumption site — tests drugs for composition and toxicity, and the city has been "completely saturated" by a toxic drug supply, said DeMong. Last month, the site temporarily paused its operations to give its staff a chance to recover from the trauma of dealing with the overdose crisis head-on. The centre has reopened, but DeMong says the need for help continues. "We were seeing days where all the staff did was revive people their whole shifts, and days where it was four people at a time, six people at a time," she said. This month, the fire department said it had responded to 119 overdose incidents or suspected opioid poisonings as of Tuesday, more than double the 53 calls in April 2024. During a period of just over two weeks last month, the department responded to one overdose call in the city every hour, on average. According to the Saskatchewan Coroners Service, there were 16 confirmed and 76 suspected drug toxicity deaths in the province in the first three months of this year, including seven in Saskatoon. 'So many people dying': advocate David Fineday, an advocate for homeless people who is originally from Sweetgrass First Nation, leads smudging and drum circles in Saskatoon. He says the people he helps have complex needs. The majority are Indigenous and many are living with trauma, including survivors of residential schools and the Sixties Scoop. "It really upsets me for people to just ignore stuff like that when there's so many people dying," he said. "I know eventually everybody has to go, but not like the way that they're letting them go. Overdoses, freezing — that doesn't have to happen in 2025." Last month, Saskatoon Mayor Cynthia Block pointed to a long-term solution: housing. City council has approved 256 affordable housing units in the past six months, about 70 per cent of which have wraparound supports, she said. Council has also approved a study for a navigational hub, meant to be a one-stop shop to help people experiencing homelessness with services, said Block. On March 12, the Saskatchewan government said it would activate its provincial emergency operations centre, led by the Saskatchewan Public Safety Agency, in response to what it termed the "toxic drug crisis" in Saskatoon. The province has also promised additional first responder staff and naloxone kits, but front-line workers say more social services and housing are desperately needed to get people off the streets and into recovery. WATCH | 5 minutes into our walk-along with Saskatoon police, we witnessed an overdose: Sgt. Chris Harris, a 19-year veteran of the police force, agreed to take CBC through Saskatoon's downtown for a tour of an area he has spent the past four years patrolling as part of the bike unit, also known as the community response unit, for an unfiltered conversation about homelessness and addictions. Earlier this week, the provincial government introduced legislation that would see fentanyl, methamphetamine and hypodermic needles categorized as street weapons. Amendments to The Safe Public Spaces Act are expected to be passed in the legislature this spring and come into force during the summer, according to a news release by the province Tuesday. Justice Minister Tim McLeod called it a "pivotal step" to ensuring public places are "free from intimidation [and] violence caused by street weapons and illicit drugs." With drug use spilling into Saskatoon libraries, two branches shut their doors to increase security last month, with a plan to reopen next week with beefed up security. But DeMong says moving people around or policies categorizing drugs as street weapons will not address sustained underlying problems. Both she and Fineday say it is key to invest in housing, health care, mental health care, community centres and education. "Imagine what we could do if we were spending the money on these services that are preventative and can intervene in what we're seeing," said DeMong. "All the money we would have — to put into other things rather than overspending on ineffective policies and discriminatory practices that are further criminalizing people in our province."
CBC
07-03-2025
- Health
- CBC
Health authority issues alert after Saskatoon records 37 overdoses in 24 hours
Saskatoon has seen a flood of overdoses in the past week, prompting a public alert from the Saskatchewan Health Authority and a direction to Saskatoon police that officers now respond to overdose calls. The Saskatoon Fire Department told CBC News on Thursday afternoon that in the past 24 hours it had responded to 37 overdoses. Deputy Fire Chief Rob Hogan said that is a dramatic increase. Since late February, the Saskatoon Fire Department has been responding to an average of 19 overdose calls a day, Hogan said. "[Firefighters and paramedics] are having to assist with breathing, so they're using a bag valve mask, they're doing CPR and then they're having to administer Narcan," said Hogan, using a brand name for naloxone, a medication used to reverse or reduce the effects of opioids. "This isn't just administering Narcan, [then] walk away. These are severe life-saving measures that they're having to do, and then administer Narcan and sometimes the patient goes to hospital, sometimes they don't." The Saskatchewan Health Authority's (SHA's) latest alert says the number of overdoses indicate that, "an unusually potent and potentially lethal substance is circulating in the Saskatoon area." The alert describes the harmful substance as light pink chunks, dark purple chunks or other, unknown substances. "Several suspicious deaths have occurred in Saskatoon, these deaths may be connected to the overdoses," the alert said. Kayla DeMong, the executive director of Prairie Harm Reduction in Saskatoon, called the number of incidents an ongoing crisis. DeMong said staff at Prairie Harm Reduction are spending all their time reviving people with naloxone. Staff are also taking naloxone kits to houses where they know people hang out and walking the alleys of the city handing out kits and checking on people. "This is so traumatizing, and we're all so scared," DeMong said. "I don't even know how we've seen very few deaths from this, but people are gonna start dying, and that's a lot of people." DeMong said the province needs to declare a health emergency and have the SHA take charge of the situation. Kelsey Fraser, a spokesperson for the Saskatoon Police Service, said police officers do not normally respond to overdose calls, leaving it to the fire department or emergency services, but with the recent increase in overdoses, they are being directed to "attend overdose calls whenever possible." "The goal of this is to gather that critical information that might help an investigation, identify drug sources, disrupt the distribution of them, and ultimately prevent further harm to our community," Fraser said. Officers are equipped with naloxone, Fraser said. The SHA says free take-home naloxone kits are available at more than 450 locations across the province. They're also urging anyone who witnesses an overdose to call 911, knowing that the federal Good Samaritan Act provides them protection from simple possession charges when they seek help with an overdose for themself or others.
