Addictions and family physician Dr. Jessica Wilder said her advocacy group is bringing back pop-up overdose prevention sites outside of Vancouver Island hospitals because B.C.’s minister responsible for health isn’t meeting with the doctors who work on the front lines of the addictions crisis.
“It’s been over six weeks since our minister of health has taken her new position, and since Josie Osborn has been doing her work as our [health] minister,” Wilder said, suggesting that there needs to be talks between politicians and doctors to work out solutions and resourcing of tools.
The newest unsanctioned overdose prevention site returned outside the Nanaimo Regional General Hospital on December 28, which she said ran smoothly that day. The group, called Doctors for Safer Drug Policy, also plans to offer overdose prevention services outside the Nanaimo hospital on January 4, 5, 6, and 7.
As a co-founder of the group, Wilder said it is made up of physicians who work with people who use substances, who all have full-time day-jobs.
“We’re working to advocate for more compassionate, humane and evidence-based policies around addictions and substance use,” she said, adding that her group has been involved in actions outside of both the Royal Jubilee Hospital and Nanaimo hospital.
Those sites originally each popped up for less than a week in November. In Nanaimo, Wilder said her team was quickly met with RCMP members and hospital security enforcement to leave the Nanaimo hospital property.
They retreated and set up their tents roughly 40 feet across the street, Wilder said. Since then, she said things have been quieter, suggesting police are even understanding that the group is running a “functioning medical service,” with procedures to keep the site clean and help clients.
Addiction is a chronic, life-long illness and it should be treated as such, she said, suggesting that controversies surrounding her work – which she does not view as something that should incite controversy—can contribute to dehumanization of patients.
Doctors for a Safer Drug policy plans to offer the pop-up overdose prevention services in Victoria again, along with sites outside more Vancouver Island hospitals. These dates and locations are not yet determined, but the group’s statement says it wants to continue escalating the issue until it receives a satisfactory response from government.
Listen to Wilder's full conversation with Al Ferraby on CFAX 1070: