Fraser Health plans to establish new services in the Tri-Cities this fall to support people wishing to deal with their own drug use.
Details are being worked out for an October launch, according to, Dr. Victoria Lee, chief medical health officer for Fraser Health, but the goal is to provide Suboxone, methadone, counselling and mental health services to local residents who need them.
“Staff will be trained in both substance use and mental health,” Lee told The Tri-City News this week.
The news comes as the health authority plans to introduce more services and figure out ways to provide addiction and mental health services that are confidential, after-hours and supportive. Technology such as an app and video service may be looked at, among other things, she said, but developing them will take time.
Fraser Health shared the results of a survey of people who use opioids that found some people don’t access services because of fear it could conflict with their jobs.
“There were concerns about confidentiality and job loss. Those are quite an important access issue that requires further examination and whether they are supported through the workplace and WorkSafe BC, and all of those factors need to be looked at," Lee said.
The anonymous survey, conducted this spring, asked people who use opioids and their families about the barriers to accessing services and what they are doing to avoid risk.
“Seventy per cent of those dying in our region are dying in private residences," Lee said. "A lot of people are not accessing our services when they are using at home. We really wanted to find out how we can improve that connection between people using at home and our current offering of services."
There was some good news in the survey in that many drug users said they took steps to avoid risks such as not using alone where possible, having access to a naloxone kit and starting with small amounts of a drug while family and friends reported they checked on their loved ones more often.
“We have been communicating publicly and our messages have been getting through,” Lee said.
Those who accessed health services said they had a positive experience, she noted, but others said there weren’t enough supports for families and loved ones or enough mental health services.
“One of the comments was ‘I would like to get help with the reason that I feel I need to use drugs — which is anxiety and no sense of purpose,'” Lee said.
She said ensuring mental health services are available along with substance use help is, and the reason the new Tri-Cities clinic will have them.
To respond to the survey results, Fraser Health has made a number of changes, including:
• creation of a substance use services access team to provide doctors, emergency personnel and hospital staff with one number they can call to help their patients get information, counselling, family support and access to treatment;
• addition of education programs for supportive family and friends;
• expansion of the crisis line, with more staff trained to help people with substance use issues who will help identify their needs, connect them to appropriate services, and refer to other resources as need (the number is 604-951-8855 or toll-free at 1-877-820-7444).
Lee said Fraser Health was also pleased at the surprisingly large number of respondents — nearly 1,200, the equivalent of what other agencies might see in a national survey.
“It was incredibly rewarding to see so many people participating. It was an impressive number of people. We really appreciated hearing from them."
