We must help those on front line of opioid crisis

Life-saving staff and volunteers at front line community organizations continue to experience high levels of stress, trauma and burnout from the deadly opioid epidemic, and it’s time to pay more attention to what they need.

Last year, Central City Foundation released a community report illustrating that the opioid crisis, which continues to plague Vancouver, is straining operations, staff and clients at essential community service organizations in the inner city. Our report showed 71 per cent of the 29 community leaders polled said the opioid crisis was having a direct impact on their staff and their work with people in the inner city. Twenty nine per cent said the impact of the crisis had been indirect, but still highly significant.

A year later, not much has changed. We work with dozens of community organizations, and they are telling us the poisoned drug supply continues to have a strong impact on their abilities to help people in the community.

The people who work and volunteer at these non-profit organizations are the front line workers in the opioid crisis, providing support to those who have lost loved ones and are literally saving lives, all while continuing to provide vital services for our neighbours in the inner city. A year ago we called for more support from other foundations, government and the broader community to begin solving the crisis. And today we’re still calling for that support.

We must do more to help front line organizations build up their capacity and continue their critical work to support our neighbours in the inner city and beyond. We need to recognize the very real impacts this crisis is having on staff, volunteers and leadership in our community and act now to provide the supports to mitigate these negative effects and strengthen these essential front line groups.

Since 1907, Central City Foundation has been connecting neighbours with resources to remove barriers, create opportunities and build human capacity in Vancouver’s inner city. We provide subsidized space in our social purpose real estate buildings for housing, health clinics, addictions treatment, family programs and more, and work with dozens of community organizations to fund capital and program needs.

The people at these community organizations have ideas to help solve the opioid crisis, and they are the ones who can deliver these solutions to help our neighbours. We need to listen to them, to offer real funding and opportunities to deliver their programs.

Foundations, governments, media, academia, the private sector, and individuals should all be playing a role in supporting the solutions led by community-based organizations. These groups need allies and champions at all levels of society to support their calls for change and their many programs to address the immediate crisis as well as the underlying complicated context of addiction and substance use in our communities.

Our community partners have important insights into how to start solving the problems this crisis has created. Their thoughts on potential solutions should lead everyone to look at opportunities to work together to alleviate this crisis.

A year later, we need more than ever to remember the toll this is taking on the people on the front lines in the community.