Blood Tribe declares state of emergency after spate of overdoses
LETHBRIDGE – Blood Tribe Chief Roy Fox and Council met in Lethbridge Friday (Mar. 2), to determine a course of action and declare a state of emergency on the reserve after a week of overdoses.
Chief executive of the Band’s Health Department, Kevin Cowan, told media there have been at least 30 overdoses in the last seven days, including at least one death.
“Over the weekend… we had 150 ambulance calls, and [EMS] ran hard. If you look at the last week now, that would be as much as they would typically do in a month.”
Cowan says the reserve now has four fully staffed ambulances on the road, to deal with the large number of overdoses and drug-related issues. One ambulance was purchased recently, while another was secured from the Siksika First Nation Thursday evening (Mar.1).