Mobile unit to roll next month

Interior Health expects Kelowna’s mobile overdose prevention unit to be operational by middle of April

Gathering information needed to apply for a supervised-injection site in Kelowna is taking longer than Interior Health anticipated.

On Jan. 13, IH announced its plans to apply to Health Canada for an exemption that would allow it to operate a mobile supervised-injection site.

At the time, officials said they planned to submit the application by the end of January.

However, IH has yet to submit the application, John Yarschenko, health services administrator with Interior Health, said Tuesday.

“We’re waiting to receive letters from the provincial RCMP and from the city before we can submit it,” he said, adding collecting those letters is the last step in the application process.

“It’s a long process, but it’s also one that needs to be done thoroughly and with a lot of community consultation.”

Beyond submitting the application, a timeline to receive the exemption is unknown.

“The major change that will come with the exemption will be the role of the nurse and social worker in supervising the administration of the drugs and providing teaching about safer administration,” said Yarschenko.

In the meantime, a mobile drug overdose prevention unit, which does not require an exemption from Health Canada, will be rolling into Kelowna next week, with plans to have it operational by mid-April.

The overdose prevention unit, which will be in a 10-metre motorhome, will focus on helping people who have overdosed or are at risk of an overdose.

It will take over from the current fixed overdose prevention site on Ellis Street, which has been open since December.

“We only had that space until the end of April . . . then we won’t be on the lease any longer,” said Yarschenko.

Around 100 people use the overdose prevention site every week.

“I think it’s serving a population that we’ve struggled to serve in the past,” he said. “I’m excited to see how this can make a difference affecting the deaths that are occurring in our community.”

IH will hire four part-time staff to work out of the mobile site: two nurses and two counsellors, who will work in pairs.

Although there is a security guard at the Ellis Street site, there will not be a guard at the mobile site.

“It will have security that pops around, but it’s a much smaller area to supervise than our current space,” said Yarschenko.

The mobile site will run from noon to midnight Tuesday to Saturday, alternating between downtown and Rutland.

“We want to engage people who use substances to provide their feedback,” said Yarschenko. “We’re looking at having fixed periods of time in each area.”

The inside of the motorhome will be renovated to include a seating area, storage and two exits, but the outside will look like an average motorhome.

“We don’t intend to do anything to the outside of it as of today,” said Yarschenko. “We’re not planning on putting any big Interior Health logo or overdose prevention signs on it. We want people to be comfortable accessing it, and we don’t need to bring attention to it.”

Community outreach workers will connect with people in the community, alerting them to the service and familiarizing them with the unit, he said.