The latest fire at Kelowna91裸聊视频檚 91裸聊视频楾ent City91裸聊视频� is a reminder of the difficultly of being homeless in the cold weather and the province91裸聊视频檚 current drug crisis.
On Monday night (Dec. 19), a small fire broke out at Kelowna91裸聊视频檚 91裸聊视频楾ent City91裸聊视频�, destroying two tents and sending one person to hospital. The person who was sent to hospital has been identified as 42-year-old Dave Laboucane. He was burned when he went back into his tent to attempt to save his belongings.
Laboucane91裸聊视频檚 mom, Honor, reached out to Capital News to identify her son as the one who sustained the injuries. She said her son is currently in ICU under heavy sedation at Kelowna General Hospital and will be flown down to the Burn Unit at Vancouver General Hospital soon.
91裸聊视频淭he doctors say that he will be there for months healing up,91裸聊视频� said Honor.
Skin grafts will be a part of the recovery process.
Dave is on the streets because of his fentanyl addiction, and has been on the Kelowna streets for more than five years. Earlier this year in June, Dave called his mom asking for help. She flew out to Kelowna from Fort McMurray, and it turned out to be at the right time because his life was saved when they got him to Vernon Jubilee Hospital. Honor91裸聊视频檚 sister is a nurse in Vernon. The two of them drove down to Kelowna and walked downtown until they found Dave. When they arrived back at the sister91裸聊视频檚 house, Dave began throwing up black. They quickly went to the hospital. Upon arrival, it was discovered he had internal bleeding that could91裸聊视频檝e killed him within 24 hours.
The doctors put him on suboxone, a medication to treat opiate addiction. After a week in hospital, he spent a month in Fort McMurray with his mom, before getting into a treatment centre in Vancouver, where he was for six weeks. He was clean the entire time until the fall.
91裸聊视频淗e was doing so well on the suboxone,91裸聊视频� said Honor. 91裸聊视频淚t just takes away the cravings, he was happy and eating and it was really good.91裸聊视频�
Doctors made a note to the treatment centre, saying Dave should stay on suboxone for at least two years. Instead, the treatment centre 91裸聊视频榳eened91裸聊视频� him off the medication, which caused Dave to go back out and lose control again, even though he hates using.
91裸聊视频淚 think in a 12-step program treatment centre, they don91裸聊视频檛 want to go out of the box at all,91裸聊视频� said Honor. 91裸聊视频淚f you91裸聊视频檙e on anything, they91裸聊视频檙e going to take you off it.91裸聊视频�
When the treatment centre started to take Dave off of suboxone, he agreed with it, but his mom didn91裸聊视频檛.
91裸聊视频淗e hates using and has such a hard time figuring things out,91裸聊视频� said Honor. 91裸聊视频淢aybe this will be the straw that finally breaks his back.91裸聊视频�
Dave91裸聊视频檚 drug issues go back 22 years, Honor said. It started with marijuana around 16 years old, but soon turned into harder drugs. Honor was also a drug user when Dave started using, but when he started using heroin soon after, Honor went into recovery and hasn91裸聊视频檛 used any drugs since. Over the years, he cleaned up and went to university but fell back into drugs after not finding a good rehab clinic. In 2012, Honor and the rest of his family took him to the television show Canada Intervention but had no luck as Dave decided to go after his girlfriend at the time, who just left her treatment centre.
Honor explained that people can build a tolerance to heroin, so people start to use fentanyl because that91裸聊视频檚 the next heaviest drug.
91裸聊视频淚91裸聊视频檓 just hoping but he91裸聊视频檚 going to be in a hospital where he91裸聊视频檚 getting care and they91裸聊视频檒l probably get him a counsellor, he91裸聊视频檒l get the help that he needs right there,91裸聊视频� said Honor. 91裸聊视频淚t91裸聊视频檒l be a long time, they said it could be months and months, maybe even a year of recovery with skin graphs and physical therapy.91裸聊视频�
Whether an addict or just homeless, the recent week of weather has made things even more difficult for the people of 91裸聊视频楾ent City91裸聊视频� as they91裸聊视频檙e trying to survive the severe cold temperatures, where in Kelowna its reached -23, feeling like -29 with wind chill. Back in October, Kelowna Bylaw Service Manager Kevin Mead told Capital News that homelessness has tripled since last year and additional resources are needed, yet it91裸聊视频檚 become so bad that its 91裸聊视频渂eyond the municipality91裸聊视频檚 control.91裸聊视频�
The hospital tried to get a flight arranged on Wednesday to get Dave down to Vancouver but there was going to be too much turbulence. They are going to try again on Thursday, according to Honor. The weather is also not helping Honor, who is trying to fly out to her son but Fort McMurray.
91裸聊视频淚t91裸聊视频檚 such a terrible epidemic,91裸聊视频� Honor adds. 91裸聊视频淭he doctors and the opioid clinics were amazing and helped him so much but treatment centres really need to listen to what doctors recommend. There is help out there.91裸聊视频�
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jordy.cunningham@kelownacapnews.com
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