B.C. overdose calls set one-day record

VANCOUVER — New numbers from health officials and first responders in British Columbia confirm a provincewide drug overdose crisis shows no sign of abating.

BC Emergency Health Services says it responded to 109 suspected overdoses in B.C. on Thursday, with 71 of those calls coming from the Vancouver Coastal and Fraser health districts. A further 38 calls were spread across Vancouver Island, the Interior and northern health districts.

A spokeswoman for Emergency Health Services said while Thursday was busy, Wednesday marked an all-time record for calls.

Preet Grewal said the service answered 130 suspected overdose calls that day, adding it was too early to tell how many may have been linked to powerful opioids such as fentanyl. She said the spike coincided with the monthly release of social assistance cheques, and the service is prepared for a challenging weekend.

Grewal said a squad of paramedics on bikes will be deployed to Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside on the weekend so the service can respond as quickly as possible to overdose calls.

“We normally increase staffing around this time of the month, around social-assistance cheque day, just to deal with an increased number of calls. We are doing that, as needed, especially in Surrey and Vancouver and throughout the province.”

The coroners service reports 347 drug overdose fatalities in the first three months of this year.