The Overdose Prevention Site in Lethbridge. (Supplied by Alberta Health Services)

By David Opinko

Lethbridge’s Overdose Prevention Site sees quiet first week

Aug 28, 2020 | 12:41 PM

LETHBRIDGE, AB – The new temporary mobile Overdose Prevention Site (OPS) is up and running, but with a relatively-small clientele to start off with.

It opened outside of the Lethbridge Shelter and Resource Centre on Monday, August 17 and is operated by Alberta Health Services (AHS).

According to AHS, it offers “the same services ARCHES currently runs” with a “heavy emphasis on access to recovery-oriented supports such as transitional shelter, detox, and referral to treatment.”

A representative with AHS sent the stats for its first week of operation to LNN.

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Between August 17 and 23, 36 different people accessed the OPS a total of 68 times.

This marks an average of just over five unique patients per day and nearly 10 total visits during this time.

Visits to the Overdose Prevention Site for August 17-23, 2020. (Supplied by Alberta Health Services)

It should be noted that the Supervised Consumption Site is still in operation, so it is unclear how traffic to the OPS will change once ARCHES ceases supervised consumption services on Monday, August 31.

The OPS runs seven days a week from 8:00 am to 4:00 am, employing 22 staff.

It will be in place until a longer-term solution can be worked out, but there is no estimated time frame for when that might happen or in what forms.

by David Opinko