91ÂãÁÄÊÓƵ

Skip to content

Hope Outreach takes on Kelowna overdose crisis

To save someone's life used to be a big deal. Now street-level care workers do it over and over again, every day.
63059kelownaHopeoutreachneedlesweb
Naloxone kit.


91ÂãÁÄÊÓƵÀá saved two lives last ·É±ð±ð°ì,91ÂãÁÄÊÓƵ said a man in his early 30s, as he sidled up to a dozen or so of his peers, huddled under blankets on Leon Avenue.

The comment, which would be remarkable in most circles, prompted little more than nods and utterances of similar anecdotes.

91ÂãÁÄÊÓƵœW±ð saw a guy overdosing on the street last week, and we had to use three (vials from the Naloxone kit) to bring him ²ú²¹³¦°ì,91ÂãÁÄÊÓƵ offered a young woman having her dinner under a Leon awning.

Two, she said, usually does the trick when it comes to opioids, but the drugs on °­±ð±ô´Ç·É²Ô²¹91ÂãÁÄÊÓƵ™s streets today are cut with so many toxins that all bets are off.

Another said that the Naloxone kits which are used to revive someone who has overdosed are such a hot commodity that she had hers stolen.

91ÂãÁÄÊÓƵÂٴdz¾±ð´Ç²Ô±ð took my whole backpack while I was sleeping, then I found it later with nothing gone but the °ì¾±³Ù,91ÂãÁÄÊÓƵ she said. 91ÂãÁÄÊÓƵœT³ó±ð²â get used ´Ú²¹²õ³Ù.91ÂãÁÄÊÓƵ

These street people 91ÂãÁÄÊÓƵ” hungry, tired, mentally ill, high or low 91ÂãÁÄÊÓƵ” are the real frontline workers in the current effort to save lives from which have risen shockingly in numbers.

That is why Angie Lohr, with HOPE Outreach, and Ann Keane, started Sunday to go out at night and arm °­±ð±ô´Ç·É²Ô²¹91ÂãÁÄÊÓƵ™s street population with what they need to save their own ±ô¾±±¹±ð²õ91ÂãÁÄÊÓƵ” Naloxone kits.

Lohr is the face of HOPE Outreach, a volunteer-based organization that helps homeless, exploited and addicted


±õ³Ù91ÂãÁÄÊÓƵ™s work ²õ³ó±ð91ÂãÁÄÊÓƵ™s taken on for personal reasons, which which she tells each person she engages with.

91ÂãÁÄÊÓƵÀá »å´Ç²Ô91ÂãÁÄÊÓƵ™t know if ²â´Ç³Ü91ÂãÁÄÊÓƵ™v±ð heard my story, but I used to be an addict and ±õ91ÂãÁÄÊÓƵ™v±ð been in and out of Âá²¹¾±±ô,91ÂãÁÄÊÓƵ Lohr said, as she dropped to one knee Sunday night, speaking eye-to-eye with a woman in her early 20s.

The candid approach prompted the woman to relax and start a conversation with Lohr about the dearth of resources for people wanting to get off the streets and drugs in general.

Both agreed that ¾±³Ù91ÂãÁÄÊÓƵ™s nearly impossible for a person without means to get clean, given the six to 12 week wait time for a detox bed and then lack of available housing upon getting out.

From there they moved on to a conversation about the Naloxone kits that Lohr was distributing.

91ÂãÁÄÊÓƵœO³Ü°ù volunteers are trained to use a narcan kit if we see anyone overdosing, but the problem has been; does everyone have a kit who is using in³Ù°ù²¹±¹±ð²Ô´Ç³Ü²õ±ô²â?91ÂãÁÄÊÓƵ Lohr said.

91ÂãÁÄÊÓƵœW±ð came across someone who was overdosing three weeks ago and we literally had to scream down the street to see who had a °ì¾±³Ù.91ÂãÁÄÊÓƵ

In the end, a life was saved. But it became clear that there was a need to get more tools into the hands of the people who use them, and in the weeks since that incident the rules have changed to allow just that.

91ÂãÁÄÊÓƵœN´Ç·É RNs and social workers can dispense nalaxone kits, not just doctors getting a ±è°ù±ð²õ³¦°ù¾±±è³Ù¾±´Ç²Ô,91ÂãÁÄÊÓƵ said Lohr.

91ÂãÁÄÊÓƵœB³Ü³Ù it takes a 10 minute training session. Sometimes the people we come across »å´Ç²Ô91ÂãÁÄÊÓƵ™t have time for that during the day.

91ÂãÁÄÊÓƵœH°¿±Ê·¡ outreach is the only night outreach, so now that the rules have expanded ±õ91ÂãÁÄÊÓƵ™m really blessed to have RNs and social workers who are willing to take their own time to teach ±è±ð´Ç±è±ô±ð.91ÂãÁÄÊÓƵ

In under an hour, Keane and Lohr had handed out 10 kits, and it was made abundantly clear that the service they started providing is needed so ³Ù³ó±ð²â91ÂãÁÄÊÓƵ™l±ô be headed back as needed.

Lohr, whose adopted daughter died from a fentanyl overdose in Surrey earlier this year, said ¾±³Ù91ÂãÁÄÊÓƵ™s work ²õ³ó±ð91ÂãÁÄÊÓƵ™s happy to take on.

91ÂãÁÄÊÓƵÀáf one person has the kit they can prevent one death down the road and ³Ù³ó²¹³Ù91ÂãÁÄÊÓƵ™s all that ³¾²¹³Ù³Ù±ð°ù²õ.91ÂãÁÄÊÓƵ

 





(or

91ÂãÁÄÊÓƵ

) document.head.appendChild(flippScript); window.flippxp = window.flippxp || {run: []}; window.flippxp.run.push(function() { window.flippxp.registerSlot("#flipp-ux-slot-ssdaw212", "Black Press Media Standard", 1281409, [312035]); }); }