Mission Loses Support Worker To Drug Overdose
The Downtown Mission, on the front lines coping with the local opioid crisis, is dealing with a direct loss after one of its own employees died from a drug overdose. Jeff Fleming, 45, an employee at the mission for over 13 years, was one of the four Windsor deaths over a 24-hour period that shocked the city a week ago. His is a name and a face put to the scourge that continues to claim victims and cause pain among families across Windsor and Essex County.
“He was always a happy character and helped us out a lot,” said Deborah Frey, who’s been a client at the mission for the past 10 months. She said she spoke often with Fleming, who helped oversee an area with overnight beds — known as the Sanctuary — where she often sleeps.
“Anything we needed, he was always there for us,” said Frey, noting that the need for help with the opioid crisis is greater than ever. “It’s only a matter of seconds and you can be gone with this. “It’s an epidemic. People are dying for no reason. People have to stop labelling, get out here and help those that need help.” While reflecting on Fleming, Frey talked about her reliance on faith and prayers to cope, “but a lot of these people don’t have that,” she said about the dozens of others who surrounded her during lunchtime Saturday in the mission’s basement.
“With a homeless situation it’s worse,” she said. “Lose your job and there goes your lifeline. Nobody thinks they are going to end up on this side of the fence. Then when you get here, not everybody is stable enough to stay clean. “People fall on drugs and want to feel better,” said Frey. “They don’t know how else to get rid of the void. And the stuff that’s out there right now — ice (crystal meth) and fentanyl — is crazy. People are falling all over the place.”
A memorial service was held for Fleming on Saturday at Families First funeral home in Windsor. Family members did not want to comment. Chrissy Makivich, a service support worker at the mission, said she crossed paths with her co-worker Fleming several times a month despite his working an opposite shift on midnights. His spirit always left a strong impression on her. “He was very friendly and approachable,” Makivich said. “He had that kind of personality that just drew people in.
“This was absolute surprise. Everyone here was distraught. It was a big shock. It definitely hits close to home when it’s one of your own. We’ve had a couple guests pass away recently. To see this from a work point of view — and now a friend point of view — it’s very hard.” Even though he spoke at length with Toronto’s Globe and Mail newspaper about Fleming, Downtown Mission executive director Ron Dunn refused to speak to the Windsor Star on Saturday about his employee, citing family confidentiality.
In his interview with the Globe and Mail, Dunn was critical of Mayor Drew Dilkens, as well as with Windsor police Chief Al Frederick’s opposition to equipping his officers with naloxone, a drug credited with saving lives when used to reverse the effects of an opioid overdose. “I’ve said this before, and I mean it, it’s not a sound bite: Those deaths are on us,” Dunn told the newspaper. “Every time I lose one of our guests, that’s my failure ... and that’s the failure of our mayor and the failure of our social service agencies and our community as a whole.
“People are dying and they don’t have to.”
The drug “epidemic” facing Windsor is not much different than “nearly every city across North America,” Mayor Drew Dilkens told the Star on Saturday. “There are layers of different drugs out there,” he said. “For us, the spike is in crystal meth use. “As mayor, I really feel for the families of people who died from an overdose. I wish there were more available treatment opportunities for their family member to have a chance to beat their addictions. That’s a real big piece of the puzzle in addressing this problem all across Ontario — more timely access to treatment.”
There were four fatal overdoses on that weekend of Nov. 10-11, but there was one survivor, Dilkens noted.
“He spent 12 hours in ER, then he was stabilized and released,” the mayor said. “If he had asked someone there for help or treatment, he would get put on a waiting list and it could be four or six weeks. He’s very likely to fall back into the habit during that time and once again go through what he just experienced.” The lack of available addiction treatment beds is “on the provincial government in terms of funding,” Dilkens said. Despite that deadly weekend spike of overdose deaths in Windsor, Dilkens supports the stance of his police chief, who has also expressed opposition to overdose prevention sites.
“These are his decisions and I support him,” said Dilkens, who chairs the Windsor Police Services Board. “There are folks who want the chief to carry EpiPens to save a life, there are others who want officers to carry nitroglycerine tablets for immediate relief in a heart attack. And some folks want police to have naloxone (anti-overdose kits).
“But police are not trained to be paramedics. That’s not their expertise. We fund an ambulance system that has trained professionals to deal with these type of medical emergencies. They are the right ones to respond to medical emergencies.”
Greg Lowry, a front line worker for 14 years for the local Canadian Mental Health Association, where he deals with clients suffering from mental health and addiction issues, said his concern is that “fentanyl has made its way into the drug mainstream here,” referring to the powerful and potentially deadly opioid.
“Based on what I saw last weekend, I suspect dealers are providing it in a haphazard way. They are putting it in various drugs and it’s difficult to control how much. “I’m not sure if they are measuring it out. Only a sprinkle added to anything will increase the high. But if you get a little too much, you see what we are seeing.” With the threat of overdose growing, Lowry has been telling his clients and “even people in my own life” to be very careful if they choose to use drugs.
“Even with marijuana, know where you’re getting it from and make sure you trust the person,” he said. “Someone might sprinkle in fentanyl to get you more hooked and so you use their product more because of a greater high.” Lowry believes people in Windsor should be more sympathetic to those in the throes of addiction. According to research, he said, it can take up to two years for a brain to return to normal after using crystal meth.
“The clients I deal with, there is often a sad story behind their (drug) addiction,” he said. “Most people don’t seek to develop an addiction, most use drugs as an escape. That escape from your past, for others, might instead be alcohol, sex or gambling. We see a lot of trauma.
“You might be more sympathetic if you knew their stories and what they are trying to escape from, and this (drugs) is the venue they have chosen.”