Glass vials – barrier to access; people have died because people haven’t been able to open theg lass ampules quickly enough. Most recently TORO experienced a death because of being unable to open glass vial in time to respond to an OD.   Anyone experiencing the same issues/barriers and wanting to contact BCCDC to advocate for different vials can provide feedback here:  https://towardtheheart.com/contact   An alternative solution could be as simple as using a different container for naloxone: Vacuum seal vials could be more appropriate as they can be opened easier without damage/injury and at a faster pace, in order to respond to an OD in a timely manner.

For anyone interested in watching case based learning, a 3 part webinar series is available on the BCCSU website here: https://www.bccsu.ca/blog/event/webinars-sublocade/

One question on the call asked " How successful would it be to stabalize someone coming off methadone (e.g. approx 125mg methadone) and transition to Sublocade? Robin's answer: Micro-dosing sublocade would potentially be a good option. The best way to help stabalize someone from Methadone to Suboxone/Sublocade would be to do this very steadily, slowly titrating the current methadone dose down (30-40mg methadone) to then transition completely to suboxone. Doing it very slowly would be the best and most successful way. If it is done too rapidly it can be very hard on the body so the best practice would be to slowly transition over to sublocade.

If anyone wants more information about the LifeGuard app - this can also be found on our CoP Blog as a post, or in the minutes - under resources for June 4th 2020.

Hi Eris, Thanks for reaching out and for your patience; sorry for the delay!. VCH are closely monitoring the situation in the DTES and working with partners at BC Housing and the City of Vancouver to take measures to protect vulnerable community members. As time has gone on, cases of community transmission of COVID have been documented across the Lower Mainland. We believe community transmission is occurring in all neighbourhoods, including the DTES and downtown core. We will continue to post updates and additional information to our website: http://www.vch.ca/about-us/news/vancouver-coastal-health-statement-on-coronavirus BC Housing has produced a good document to support housing providers: https://www.bchousing.org/publications/Covid-19-Info-Bulletin-for-Housing-Providers-March-18th-2020.pdf And of course, we encourage folks to bring up any questions or concerns at our weekly overdose community of practice call—it’s helpful for us to hear from you. Thanks so much for the work that you do. Also please see useful resources below by clicking on the following images which take you to download PDF documents on COVID-19 advice.

Hi Keith, I have some clinical advice on its way to you from our Clinical Lead Nancy who will post on the forum shortly. Also for now this information has also been shared with me - RACE Line at SPH is staffed by addiction medicine specialists http://www.raceconnect.ca/​

Thank you Keith for bringing this question to the forum. I will seek clinical advice from our team and our nurse educators and ensure they are able to share this information on the forum here to share with everyone.

CoP callers from today's call (5/12/2019) please refer to this forum post about Psychosis ^^

Thanks for sharing Nicolas! :)

I second that!! We are going to miss you Kyle!! All the best in your future and thank you for all you did to help support the Overdose Emergency Response team with Drug Checking! You star. :)

Hi Zach, The Mobile Response Team offers support services around ‘Trauma and Grief’ for frontline workers/peers working in the commnity and you can contact Carolyn.Sinclair@phsa.ca or there is a drop-in session at the Molson OPS, 166 East Hastings (Alley Entrance), every Wednesday morning 8am-11am. The following services are also available: BC Crisis Line - Families of folks who have lost someone to substance use: http://www.bcbh.ca/pages.php?pID=15 Richmond Health Services Crisis Line - (604) 279-7070 Richmond Mental Health Emergency Services - (604) 244-5562 - phone lines open 11 a.m. to 10 p.m., 7 days a week Adult Mental Health & Addiction: (604) 244-5488 - phone lines open Monday to Friday from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. https://www.overdosecommunity.ca/well-being - The Free/low cost counselling services post has a variety of phone lines and available services here. Hope one or some of the above help out! Thanks

Thanks for sharing this Eris and for talking more about it on the COP call this morning. Reminder for those who wish to have a paper copy sent to them instead of an electronic one - please email Eris at Eris.Nyx@bccdc.ca . The document is also available under the Resources, OD Response tab on the site too.