For Donna May, a Sault native now based in Mississauga, Ont., the opioid crisis is deeply and tragically personal.
Her daughter Jacey passed away Aug. 21, 2012 after a history of fentanyl use.
But rather than strictly dwelling on the heartache of losing her daughter, May established mumsDU (an acronym for ‘moms united and mandated to saving the lives of Drug Users’) in 2016 to bring a family voice to the United Nations to increase awareness of the opioid crisis and also implement harm reduction practices that address the opioid related overdose crisis with practices proven to be successful in Canada.
"Jacey left a legacy for me to learn about substance use and how people should be treating it and viewing it instead of the way we typically tend to do it, with tough love and a hard hand,” May told SooToday Tuesday.
A two-day conference, organized by May to address the opioid crisis, will be held in the Sault at The TECH and the Delta April 27 and 28 respectively.
Rather than draw attention solely to Jacey’s death as a cry for empathy, May said “the conference is about bringing resources to the city which are much needed.”
A published public report, compiled from the conference, will be delivered to local stakeholders, such as Algoma Public Health, Mayor Christian Provenzano and city council, Sault Area Hospital, and “whoever we feel has a position in the city where they should be responding to the crisis,” May said.
“We’re hoping to have it done within two weeks, done by the organizing committee (with recommendations).”
“From the community we will take what they believe the needs are.”
“For instance, it may be supervised injection sites, overdose prevention, more recovery places, better access to the RAAM (Rapid Access Addiction Medicine) Clinic, more RAAM clinic hours, we will take that information, find out how it can be implemented, the cost behind it, the probable timeline behind it, and report that to an online link and published wherever I can get it published, on our mumsDU website, though social media and sent to attendees email addresses,” May said.
Anti-substance abuse practices proven to be successful in Canada, May said, include supervised injection services within hospital settings.
“What they’ve done (in other communities) is to open up a room within a hospital facility so they do not suffer withdrawal symptoms on top of the reason they are in hospital. It stops them from leaving the hospital setting to use drugs. Doctors can monitor and better determine other dosages of drugs the patient may be on. It’s about meeting the substance user where they’re at, without putting further stigmatization and degradation on them, where we can manage their health care.”
“If they’re in a hospital setting, they’re being accepted for what they’re doing, but they’re also being given all the resources to withdraw from those substances. There is counselling, housing resources and community service resources. Many of these people have been on the street for so long they don’t even have identification, so there needs to be that re-entering them into the social system,” May said.
The Sault’s RAAM Clinic, which opened at 123 East St. April 2 as a collaboration between SAH and Northeast LHIN-funded organizations, will have its official grand opening Wednesday at 1 p.m.
A RAAM Clinic physician lead will be available to see patients or to consult with primary care two hours per day, two days per week, and in addition, the clinic will have nurse practitioners (NPs) services available, SAH told SooToday.
The clinic will accept referrals from hospital emergency departments, physicians, nurse practitioners, community addictions and mental health services, social services and families, and is open to walk-ins.
Once the RAAM clinic receives a referral, the clinical team may provide services depending on the needs of the patient, such as assessment, case management, counselling and prescribing of appropriate addiction medications, the team also connecting patients to community treatment programs.
May said the opening of the RAAM Clinic is “absolutely” a step in the right direction, but stated “the RAAM clinic has received little to no support in comparison to the Level III facility. They’re putting everything into a Level III Withdrawal Management Services facility (SAH has put in a request to the Northeast LHIN and the Ministry of Health for that proposed 33-bed facility, to replace the current 16-bed SAH detoxification centre located at 911 Queen St. E.)."
“The RAAM Clinic is only open for a limited period of time per week…at the RAAM Clinic you’re best helping the person establish what their care needs are,” May said.
It should be noted the mayor, city councillors and city staff have indeed indicated their support for any and all measures designed to combat the opioid problem locally, but it is not within the municipality’s jurisdiction to provide actual funding for medical facilities designed to help drug users.
Funding such facilities lies within the province’s jurisdiction.
Since her daughter’s death, May has spoken across Canada and addressed the United Nations twice (in New York and Vienna) on behalf of mumsDU to call for measures to be taken to reduce the harms of substance use.
On April 27, May, along with a group of recognized experts in the field of substance use, including RAAM expert Dr. Mike Franklyn, will meet with community members in the Sault at The TECH at 130 Wellington St. E. from 7 to 9:30 p.m. to address questions and concerns around establishing harm reduction practices that address the opioid crisis.
On April 28, there will be a full day conference for the public, practitioners and front line workers to determine which life saving services are most needed in the Sault, to be held at The Delta from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Connie Raynor-Elliott of SOYA (Save Our Young Adults) and Lisa Damignani, O’Sullivan Funeral Home owner, have helped to organize the two-day event.
More information may be found on the Family Matters: Responding to the Opioid Crisis in Sault Ste. Marie Facebook page.