We've been closely engaged with Alberta Health Services, the City, and the Provincial Government since this past fall. Here is our June 2019 update with respect to the Supervised Consumption Site (SCS) at the Sheldon Chumir Health Centre.
SCS Community Liaison Committee Up and Running
An SCS Community Liaison Committee was set up by Alberta Health Services (AHS) and the BNA to discuss community concerns, find potential solutions and provide advice on how to improve communication with the community. The committee is chaired by AHS and members of the BNA and has been meeting monthly since December 2018.
Events Programming in Central Memorial Park
We're working with the City of Calgary Parks, local Business Improvement Areas, and Memorial Park Library to help fill Central Memorial Park with tons of fun events this summer. Check out the events calendars below (click to enlarge).
New Beltline DOAP Team Now Operating
The Downtown Outreach Addictions Partnership (DOAP) is often the first point of contact with vulnerable individuals in the community, and this is a critical first step in connecting these people with the support that they need. A Beltline-dedicated DOAP team van has been operating now for two months. This is in addition to the citywide van and a recently launched Downtown-dedicated DOAP van. In the last month, the DOAP van has helped transfer 126 clients from the SCS to housing.
Better Police Presence for Beltline and Downtown
Calgary Police Service have redeployed 11 officers to the Beltline and Downtown to provide more presence on the street and make the area safer for everyone. Mounted police will also be in and around Central Memorial Park so don't be surprised if you see some horses in the neighbourhood.
New business coming to Central Memorial Park
Watch for an announcement around an exciting new business opening up in the former Provision/Boxwood space in Central Memorial Park this July!
24-hour SCS Outreach Team
A new SCS outreach team will soon begin working 24-hours, 7-days a week to to support people on the street with addictions around the Sheldon Chumir Health Centre and area. The teams will be made up of one health outreach worker and one peer support worker to expand supports for people suffering from addictions beyond the SCS and to improve overall integration of the SCS with the community. Alberta Health Services (AHS) will be reaching out to the residents and businesses in the area to engage on designing the roles of the outreach teams and how they can better support the community. Stay tuned for more updates.
Needle Drop Boxes
The Calgary Fire Department (CFD) manages the City's needle dropbox program. These are the yellow drop boxes you see around town that have been in operation for years. The City has begun consolidating needle pickup data across multiple departments internally (Parks, CFD, CPS, etc.) as well as externally (DOAP Team) to reassess needle dropbox locations. We are advocating for support from our local Ward 8 and Ward 11 Councillors to expedite this activity.
New SCS Opening for East Calgary
A new mobile SCS is expected to open soon for East Calgary in the Forest Lawn area. On May 2nd, the mobile site opened it's doors to the public for a tour.
Improving Communications
BNA will be providing more regular progress updates and will continue to work to provide transparent information updates.
Latest Statistics from Alberta Health Services in Calgary
Here are some of the latest statistics from the April 2019 report by Alberta Health Services for the Supervised Consumption Site (SCS) at the Sheldon Chumir Health Centre.
In April 2019, 38 overdoses were reversed by health care staff and 110 referrals were made to SCS clients for wraparound health services.
Safeworks SCS Summary of Visits and Overdoses by Month
Safeworks SCS Summary of Referrals by Month
Let's Talk!
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