THUNDER BAY — A day to listen, give out hugs, and remember that those lives lost or changed due to overdose are people and not just another statistic.
An event marking International Overdose Awareness Day was held Thursday in Thunder Bay at Paterson Park, which will also feature a candlelight vigil in the evening.
Hailey Surette, the manager of primary care with NorWest Community Health Centres, said the Thunder Bay district has been impacted hard by the worldwide public health crisis.
“[According to 2021 data], we were actually averaging 2.3 overdoses related to substances a week, which is a very startling number,” Surette said. “These are people, family members, community members, these are people that are loved and cared about that we're losing unnecessary.”
Opioid-related death rates in the Thunder Bay District Health Unit area were over three times higher than the provincial average in 2022; with 51.0 per 100,000 in compared to 16.1 per 100,000 for Ontario.
The City of Thunder Bay had the highest rate of opioid-related deaths in Ontario in 2022.
Surette said that the day is all about educating those who need resources.
“We're here to show the people that have lost loved ones who may be struggling themselves, who may be scared of our current supply, that we see them," Surette said. "We care about them, we're here to support them, and that they're not going unnoticed.”
NorWest Community Health Centres opened its doors to Path 525 back in 2018 as a way to help clients with a safe place to consume illicit drugs. They also offer drug testing, which has turned up traces of fentanyl in a majority of cocaine products on the market or on the street.
“Folks are buying substances expecting them to be, say methamphetamines or cocaine, and it actually contains high levels of fentanyl or off market medications that they've been cut with. This is incredibly dangerous and scary for folks that are using substances and the people who love them. It really is a problem of a toxic supply.”
Carolyn Karle formed Team DEK in memory of her daughter Dayna Elizabeth Karle, who died as a result of an unintentional drug overdose on Sept. 19, 2021.
Nearly two years later, she finds comfort and healing in the work that she’s doing to help get more resources in Thunder Bay.
“We want to open up a sober living space for women of all ages because we know that once they leave treatment, they don't have a safe place to go. [That] puts them right back on the streets, [or] right back into all the drug houses, and puts them into situations where they're triggered and typically, they can die because they had been sober,” Karle said.
Karle’s work includes meeting with politicians in all three levels of government, who seem receptive to what she is saying.
“They do really want to help, and they're just trying to figure out ways and trying to get all of us to come together and work as a group not in different silos,” she said. “We want to be able to reach out to anyone of the organizations when we need help. If I have someone come to me and ask for something, I can send them over to the places that I've learned [that can] offer what they [are looking for in terms of assistance].
Surette stressed that communication will help end the stigma around overdoses.
“There are many people in the park, but there's also people walking by, and people living in the community that may not feel safe to come and join [this] event. We start with conversations about the facts,” Surette said.
“The drug supply is toxic in town right now. Precautions are not being taken and we're in an overdose epidemic and those are the real situations that people are living with substance use affects every single person in our community. I would bet that every person that lives in Thunder Bay has at least one degree of separation to somebody who uses substances whether you know it or not. And that's, that's a pretty impactful thing to think about.”
Surette notes that we often don't like to have the hard conversations, but now might be the time to change that so people can get the help that they need and want and deserve.
