News & Events
The Ottawa Sun ran an article on research that is being conducted by CAMH in Toronto on the feasability of Safe Consumption Sites in Toronto and Ottawa. SWCHC has been participating in this research. Please also read the comment below that was sent to the Sun in response to the article. It is from someone who speaks very highly of the harm reduction services in Ottawa (ours included!)
http://www.ottawasun.com/news/ottawa/2009/08/12/10443076.html
Comments Quoted from: Geoff
"Cost to build a safe drug house: approx 5-10million dollars
Cost to treat ONE person who has HIV/AIDS over their lifetime 15 million dollars..."
It is proven these facilities reduce the spread of HIV/AIDS and Hepatitis. They also would be providing addicts with the resources they need to get into rehabs/methadone/etc, and any emergency medical help as well.
There would be less flow of drug addicts into the city's hospitals, as well, due to abscesses, overdoses and other health complications caused by unsafe injection drug use.
I'm willing to admit that I am an opiate addict who already makes use of the harm reduction vans and clinics that Ottawa already has and have received so much compassion and help from the staff working with them.
I've recently gotten connected with the Ontario Addiction Treatment Centre with help from the harm reduction van and have started my addiction treatment. I hope to be finally done with my addiction in the near future!
Without the help I've gotten from the harm reduction staff, I would not have been convinced to seek treatment for my opiate dependence.
I know many others who are in recovery, who are recovered, or who are just beginning to find an interest in seeking help who would agree with me.
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Safe Inhalation Program
Ottawa Safe Inhalation Program
In response to many questions that have come foward we have posted to our website the following:
- a fact sheet
- some questions and answers
- a visual discription of what the safe inhalation kit contains
Fact Sheet
Crack
Crack is the street name for a crystallized form of cocaine made into small rock that can be smoked or injected. The relatively low cost of crack and easy availability has resulted in an increase of use and risk especially for those that are street-involved or low income.
HIV and Hepatitis C (Hep C) can be transmitted between crack users through the shared use of devices (often users will turn to makeshift pipes such as discarded pop tins) to smoke crack or shared use of needles to inject crack.
Background
In April 2005, the City of Ottawa Public Health Department in collaboration with partner agencies. began to distribute glass stems, rubber mouthpieces, brass screens, chopsticks, and lip balm in an attempt to decrease the spread of HIV/Hep C.
On July 11, 2007 the City of Ottawa decided to stop its participation in the program. The remaining partners, under the auspicious of the Ottawa Coalition on HIV/AIDS, banned together to decide to continue the program.
Given the significant health risk posed by the increased risk of the spread of HIV and Hep C, Somerset West CHC made representation to the Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care to fund the program. On December 21, 2007, the program was funded.
The Ottawa Safe Inhalation Program
The Safe Inhalation Program operates using a harm reduction approach, which recognizes the strengths and capacities of the individual, and acknowledges the cycles of change related to substance use and dependence. The program goal is to ensure that the service needs of clients are assessed and met, including, but not limited to, the provision of sufficient quantities of products that best reflect the type, frequency and practices of substance use, supportive information, and health teaching/counselling
related to risk reduction, and disease prevention; testing for HIV, Hepatitis and sexually transmitted infections; immunization; safe disposals of used equipment; and referral to appropriate services within the Ottawa region.
To be eligible for participation in the program clients must be 18 years of age or over and an established and active crack user.
Evidence to date
Evaluation of the program by a university-based research consultant produced evidence of a change in drug use behavior from injecting crack to smoking crack. Smoking crack is a less harmful method of using crack. They also found a decrease in sharing of crack pipes. (Safe Crack Use Initiative Evaluation Report, Dr Lynne Leonard 2006)
Commonly Asked Questions: Safe Inhalation Program
1. What is Harm Reduction?
“Harm reduction” is a pragmatic, non-judgmental set of strategies to reduce individual and community harm caused by drug use. The focus is on taking incremental steps to reduce harm rather than on eliminating drug use. Abstinence may not be the end goal.
The primary focus of harm reduction is on people who are already experiencing some harm due to their substance use. Interventions are geared to movement from more to less harm. Examples of proven harm reduction programs are: intervention programs which decrease public drunkenness; needle and syringe exchange programs which prevent the transmission of HIV among injection drug users; and, environmental controls on tobacco smoking which limit the exposure to second hand smoke.
Reference CAMH “Harm Reduction: Its Meaning and Application for Substance Use Issues Position Statement”.
http://www.camh.net/Public_policy/Public_policy_papers/harmreductionposition.html
2. What is the Ottawa Safe Inhalation Program?
The Safe Inhalation Program is a harm reduction and disease prevention strategy. Providing drug users with clean equipment, including glass stems, among crack users means that they will not have to share and will therefore reduce the spread of disease. It also provides users with information on where to safely dispose of used equipment and collects used equipment. Somerset West CHC coordinates this program with members of the Ottawa Coalition on HIV/AIDS. In addition the program workers develop important relationships with users and help them to get the help they need.
3. When did the Safe Inhalation Program begin at Somerset West CHC?
Somerset West Community Health Centre has been a program partner with Ottawa Public Health, City of Ottawa, in the Safe Inhalation Program since April 2005.
In July 2007, Ottawa City Council decided not to continue the participation of the City of Ottawa in the program. Somerset West CHC and the remaining partners decided to continue offering basic safe inhalation supplies to clients. We appealed to the Provincial Minister of Health and Long Term Care to fund this program because we were very concerned that the community was at a risk of transmission of infectious disease; especially HIV and Hepatitis C if permanent funding for the program could not be secured.
In December 2007, Minister George Smitherman announced that the program was funded. We received funds to coordinate the program for Ottawa to get safe inhalation supplies out in the community by utilizing a mobile van service and deploying street outreach workers. We continue to offer the program in partnership with other community organizations and we order supplies for all site partners.
4. Who are the other organizations that are involved in the Safe Inhalation Program?
Somerset West CHC coordinates this program in partnership with the members of the Ottawa Coalition on HIV/AIDS. This includes the following organizations: Carlington Community & Health Services, Centretown Community Health Centre, Pinecrest-Queensway Community Health Centre, Sandy Hill Community Health Centre, Youth Services Bureau of Ottawa, Wabano Centre for Aboriginal Health, Elizabeth Fry Society of Ottawa, and the AIDS Committee of Ottawa.
5. Why would we want to promote illegal drug use?
The Safe Inhalation Program does not promote drug use. This is a health issue. The program provides a means to reduce the instances of people sharing pipes and other drug equipment. It also provides us an opportunity to educate users about how they can protect themselves from contracting infectious diseases like HIV/AIDS and Hepatitis C - which are highly prevalent amongst hard drug users.
We do not provide equipment to anyone under 18 or anyone that is not an established user. Most of our clients are well known to the workers.
6. Isn’t giving out crack pipes counter-productive to drug treatment programs?
The Safe Inhalation Program addresses the public health risk of transmission of HIV/AIDS and Hepatitis C to drug users and to the general public through contact with contaminated equipment. Effective harm reduction programs assist drug users by providing them with the motivation and confidence to seek help. We need to keep drug users healthy enough both physically and emotionally to fully benefit from treatment services when they choose to seek help.
In many cases, our workers are the only contact drug users may have with the health care system. When they are ready and willing to seek help we can provide them with referrals to treatment programs and addictions counseling.
7. What about treatment?
There is no doubt that the City of Ottawa is in need of additional residential and community treatment programs. The people who use drugs are often abusing a variety of other substances. It is difficult to provide effective treatment programs for these users. Any treatment program would need to include long-term follow up and outreach.
8. Doesn’t the Safe Inhalation Program contribute crime in our community?
The Safe Inhalation Program is just one piece of the puzzle in addressing the issue. Treatment, policing, and prevention are all part of the overall strategy.
The Safe Inhalation Program is based on best practices and is designed to reduce the public health risk of the transmission of HIV/AIDS and Hepatitis C. It also works in conjunction with other programs to eliminate drug use and the associated social hazards as a gateway to a number of services that address the broader drug problem.
Somerset West CHC works closely with the City of Ottawa’s Needle Hunter program and does outreach to the community with regular patrols of our local neighborhood.
Studies in the United States have shown that although increased enforcement will affect the daily lives of drug users, the fear of getting caught results in an increase in the use or risky methods of injection and quick disposal of needles. It may also lead to increased violence in the drug community. Other cities have found that if you harass drug users in one area, they may simply move to other neighbourhoods and create drug problems in new areas.
9. How can we help stop drug abuse in our community?
The City of Vancouver has developed a four-part plan for reducing drug-related harm in their community. The four pillars of the policy are prevention, harm reduction, treatment, and enforcement. This approach was detailed Appendix 6 of the City of Ottawa’s 2006- 2008 Community Action Plan on Homelessness.
We feel that only through a comprehensive strategy to address prevention, harm reduction treatment and enforcement, will we be able to find long term solutions to the drug problem in our community.
For more information on this program see the City of Ottawa web site: http://ottawa.ca/residents/housing/homelessness/action_plan/annex/annex_6_en.html
10. Where can I go to find information about drug treatment in the Ottawa region?
The Government of Ontario operates a 24 hour, seven days a week information line with a province-wide toll-free line (1-800-565-8603). They also have a searchable database of drug and alcohol treatment programs. www.dart.on.ca.
The city of Ottawa has a good inventory of drug services at:http://www.ottawa.ca/calendar/ottawa/citycouncil/hrssc/2006/06-15/Gap%20Analysis%20by%20pillar%20.htm
Inner City Health has recently published a directory of services and it can be found at: http://chat.carleton.ca/~jgoveas
Community Health Centres to play major role in provincial poverty reduction strategy
March 20, 2008 Ottawa – Over 100 community leaders from eastern Ontario traveled to Ottawa today to support the provincial governments announcement this week that over the course of the next three years, the province will invest $135 million on a plan involving Community Health Centres (CHC), Public Health Units, dentists and dental hygienists to deliver oral health and dental care to low-income families across the province.
“Minister Smitherman said it best himself when he announced increased access during the current government’s first mandate,” said Jack McCarthy, Executive Director of Somerset West Community Health Centre, “The reason Community Healthy Centres (CHC) are expanding is simple: they work”, said Minister Smitherman as he described Community Health Centers as “one the most effective tools we have to address health issues.”
Premier Dalton McGuinty’s announcement is the latest demonstration of the current government’s understanding of the role played by CHCs in delivering comprehensive health care to those who need it most. Ontario’s CHCs, are now in the midst of the largest expansion since they first opened thirty years ago. The expansion involves the creation of 21 new full Centres and 28 new, smaller ‘satellite’ centres. By 2009, over 110 Ontario communities will have access to care delivered by a CHC.
During today’s media conference at Somerset West Community Health Centre Executive Directors and supporters from all health centres in Champlain LHIN gathered to launch the release of a new CHC report and the unveiling of a new logo, which will be used on all health centres in Ontario.
“What makes Community Health Centres stand out is that they address the entire range of factors that contribute to healthy lives and healthy communities, said Jack McCarthy “Health teams figure out what’s harming health in the community they serve. Then they roll up their sleeves and work with community members to reduce those problems”
In her remarks Adrianna Tetley Executive Director of the Association of Ontario Health Centres said, “Eventually we hope all Ontarians who need the services and programs delivered by CHC’s will be able to access them..”
Media Clippings
George Smitherman, Minister of Health and Long- term Care
Published January 24, 2008 Ottawa Citizen
