Vancouver: una tienda de inyección supervisada gestionada por activistas se integra en el sistema de salud

Las autoridades de la ciudad canadiense de Vancouver han integrado una tienda de inyección supervisada que operaba de manera informal un grupo de activistas en el sistema de atención de salud de la ciudad. Más información, en inglés, está disponible abajo.

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By Travis Lupick

Authorities have brought an unsanctioned supervised-injection site that’s operated in the Downtown Eastside under the umbrella of Vancouver’s formal health-care system.

Since September 21, Sarah Blyth and other activists have offered harm-reduction services under a tent pitched facing an alley near the intersection of East Hastings and Columbia streets. There, they’ve provided clean needles and other equipment to intravenous drug users and kept the location staffed with volunteers trained to use naloxone, the so called overdose antidote that’s used to block the effects of opioids like heroin and fentanyl.

More than 300 overdoses occurred at the tent before staff stopped counting. Blyth and her volunteers successfully intervened in every one. No one has died at the tent since it was pitched more than three months ago now. All the while, the program survived on mostly small donations collected via a GoFundme campaign.

Click here to read the full article.

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Thumbnail: Flickr CC Nathan Forget