Watch Live: CityNews Tonight Vancouver

BC’s nurses and firefighters say resources stretched thin by OD crisis

BURNABY (NEWS 1130) – With the province’s overdose crisis getting worse, the BC Nurses Union (BCNU) and the BC Professional Firefighters’ Association (BCPFFA) have renewed the call for creative solutions and more resources.

In Vancouver, monthly overdose numbers have been rising steadily since May. Province-wide, the number of overdose deaths this year is expected to top 750.

“Not since the early ’90s, when we were in the midst of the HIV epidemic, has this province faced a healthcare crisis like the one we are in now,” says BCNU president Gayle Duteil.

She adds nursing staff across the province are exhausted, with some working 16-hour shifts and resuscitating overdose victims in waiting rooms.

BCPFFA president Gord Ditchburn says firefighters province-wide are contending with similar stress.

“Now we’re seeing 15 to 20 (overdoses) a shift,” he explains. “We don’t have the downtime anymore, you come back from the call, you’re right out the door… it does take a toll.”

Duteil says burnout is becoming a major issue for all first responders, and while initiatives like mobile medical units and overdose prevention sites are a good step, both require trained nursing staff, and the province is currently facing a nursing shortage.

Duteil has written a letter to BC’s Health Minister Terry Lake asking for more resources for first responders.

“Respectfully, a government with a $2.1-billion surplus should be able to fund much more first response and harm reduction capacity to deal with a growing emergency,” the letter concludes.

Top Stories

Top Stories

Most Watched Today