The latest Gathering Wisdom Forum was held in Vancouver May 15-17. This Forum invites three representatives from each BC First Nation community in BC to discuss health and community wellness issues for Indigenous people in BC. This year Dr. Shannon McDonald, acting Chief Medical Health Officer with the First Nations Health Authority (FNHA) was among the speakers who talked about the opioid crisis Here is an of Dr. McDonald’s presentation.
Indigenous people are disproportionately impacted by the opioid crisis, overdosing and dying at much higher rates than non-First Nations people in British Columbia.
Dr. Shannon McDonald, acting Chief Medical Health Officer with the FNHA, started by sharing data collected by the BC Coroners Service and released in a FNHA report last year. It revealed that while First Nations account for just 3.4% of BC’s population, they suffer 14% of overdose events and represent 10% of overdose deaths.
Another alarming fact is that among First Nations, there is an almost equal number of overdoses and deaths among men and women. This is very different than non-First Nations, where men are much more likely to be impacted by overdoses.
The FNHA has developed a wide-ranging plan to tackle the opioid problem from a number of angles.
Among the steps outlined in the response plan:
• Expanding access to Naloxone kit distribution and training. Nasal-spray naloxone is now a non-insured health benefit but access is not yet wide-spread
• Expanding access to opioid agonist therapy like suboxone, which acts as a replacement for street drugs. A challenge is making this more accessible for those outside urban areas
• Intensive case management is being rolled out to offer better support for drug users
• Expanding clinical pharmacy services through telehealth
• Information campaigns that trigger conversations in the community and help model positive behaviour
• More peer engagement programs. One, called Unlocking the Gates, provides peer mentoring and support for those leaving incarceration, a particularly vulnerable time.
New overdose data is being collected and should be available for release later this year.