Shey Still, site manager and case manager at the Welcome Inn, always has a naloxone kit on her hip.
(CARLI BERRY / iNFOnews.ca)
January 23, 2021 – 6:00 p.m.
Frontline worker Shey Still has become so used to overdose deaths that she expects the people she helps won’t be around for long.
He has been involved in the Welcome Inn emergency shelter since it opened in January 2020 and has been a site manager and case manager since the emergency shelter was temporarily converted into a hygiene center last spring.
In view of the overdose crisis and the increase in overdoses this year, the work is so laborious that she could not properly mourn the deceased.
“As a front-line worker, you almost have to divide yourself up and give yourself permission to feel this grief for a period of time and then clear it away. It does not go away … If I have allowed myself to feel this sadness in everyday life, it is really time consuming, ”she said.
She sees a trauma therapist but not as often as she would like due to the pandemic and said she needs to be creative to take time out of everything by spending more time outdoors.
The overdose crisis has been exacerbated by the pandemic, and BC is well on its way to registering the highest number of overdose deaths this year since the crisis began. The rise in overdose deaths is primarily due to the number of users who are isolated and only using drugs, as well as an increasingly toxic drug supply.
READ MORE: Kelowna, Kamloops Have Recorded Record Deaths From Illicit Drug Overdose
According to the latest statistics, 55 people died of overdose in Kamloops, 53 in Kelowna, and 23 in Vernon in 2020.
The hygiene station’s outreach team still responded to an overdose a day ago in spring 2020 when COVID-19 restrictions peaked. BC recorded the highest number of overdose deaths in the province since the overdose crisis began to be reported in July, with 171 deaths.
Just before restaurants and shops closed last spring, Still also worked part-time on the front lines of Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside.
During that time, the main obstacle facing the homeless population was access to services, she said.
“We started seeing a lot more people alone, which was arguably (the hardest part of overdosing with the pandemic). The effects of COVID-19 on our homeless population contracting COVID-19 were especially very limited in Kelowna … but it was the remaining effects of the rules protecting society in general that actually contradicted (harm reduction) practices ” said Still.
“We’ve seen people die alone in homes or on the street because they couldn’t access the community resources that made safe injection.”
During this time, overdoses increased near the drinking center and in the tent city on Recreation Avenue in Kelowna.
Staff performed wellness checks, sometimes walking in and out of their drinking center around the tents every hour or even half an hour, handing out naloxone kits, and speaking to people to let them know about the services available if they needed help, Still said.
“With this educational piece, we were able to see a reduction in overdoses in our small area of the universe,” she said.
There were a few silver linings by 2020, she said.
“We were the first shelter in Kelowna (with a pod bed system) and the pods were mostly a gift. You could define personal and private space. Imagine sleeping on bunk beds or next to each other with no privacy element, ”she said.
“The hygiene center was so innovative and creative and something that often wasn’t even thought about. When we opened the hygiene center, we provided just that … and because there were so many community resources that people couldn’t access due to COVID … we started implementing case management (and volunteer and cleanup programs) … we started to become a hub, ”she said.
She is excited about the recent announcement of the permanent hygiene center in the Metro Community on St. Paul Street, which will open in February.
READ MORE: Temporary Shelter in Kelowna
“I still get calls from people asking where to shower and do laundry,” she said. “When the hygiene center closes, we can only provide assistance to 39 residents. Towards the end of the hygiene center season, we saw around 140 unique people a week having access to services … and between 40 and 50 people a day. ”
The shelter now offers case management that wasn’t available last season, she said.
Still said, what the residents of the shelter need for the future is a safe drug supply.
“To look at some of these problems from a medical perspective, rather than failing morally … they’re not just opioids anymore. We find deadly substances everywhere. ”
READ MORE: Kamloops Council is considering a motion urging the government to decriminalize illegal drugs
Based on her experience in Vancouver, she said Kelowna could benefit from test strips that test more than fentanyl, and having a permanent overdose prevention center instead of a mobile unit would also be a positive way to help drug users stay safe, she said.
“A brick and mortar overdose prevention website would be huge,” she said.
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