BACKGROUND
Overview
- SafePoint opened on April 26th, 2023, serving clients 7 days per week between the hours of 10:00 a.m. –
6:00 p.m. daily. - In order to ensure transparency related to SafePoint operations, the Board of Health is provided with regular updates.
Application Status
- As of January 2024, the WECHU’s pending application to the province to fund SafePoint as a Consumption and Treatment Services (CTS) site remains on-hold.
- As no timeline has been provided for the removal of the hold on the WECHU’s application, operations at SafePoint were paused effective January 1st of 2024.
CURRENT INITIATIVES
Operational Data
SafePoint operated for a period of eight months, recording a total of 1,257 client visits amongst 248 unique clients. Additional details about the services provided at SafePoint during the month of December are presented in Tables 1-4.
|
Total Unique Clients: 33 |
||
|---|---|---|
|
Demographic |
Number of Unique Clients |
|
|
Age |
Under 25 |
1 |
|
|
25-64 |
30 |
|
|
65+ |
0 |
|
Gender |
Man |
25 |
|
|
Woman |
6 |
| Not list | 0 | |
|
Race |
White |
28 |
|
|
Black, African, or Caribbean |
1 |
| Arabic | 1 | |
| Filipino | 1 | |
|
Total Number of Client Visits: 215 |
||
|---|---|---|
|
Indicator |
Number of Visits |
|
|
Visit by Time of Day |
10:00 – 11:59 a.m. |
55 |
|
|
12:00 – 2:59 p.m. |
88 |
|
|
3:00 – 6:00 p.m. |
72 |
|
Type of Visit |
Consumption |
83 |
| Other | 132 | |
|
Consumption Visits Reported |
Crystal methamphetamine |
40 |
| Morphine | 3 | |
| Fentanyl | 23 | |
| Ritalin | 10 | |
| Speedball Crystal/Fentanyl | 6 | |
| Carfentanyl | 1 | |
|
Consumption Visits by Method of Consumption |
Injection |
83 |
| Intranasal | 1 | |
| Oral | 0 | |
|
Total Number of Client Visits: 215 |
|||
|---|---|---|---|
|
Indicator |
Number of Times Service Offered |
||
|
Drug Checking |
On-site fentanyl drug checking |
3 |
|
|
Basic Care |
First aid |
7 |
|
| Wound/abscess | 92 | ||
| Foot care | 2 | ||
|
Wraparound Services |
|
On-site |
Referral |
|
|
Addictions treatment |
0 |
4 |
|
|
Mental health |
12 |
6 |
|
|
Primary care |
40 |
20 |
| Social services | 204 | 13 | |
|
Total Number of Overdoses: 2 |
||
|---|---|---|
|
Indicator |
Number of Overdoses |
|
|
Overdoses Treated On-Site |
1 |
|
|
Overdose Treatments Used |
Naloxone and Oxygen/Stimulation |
1 |
|
0 |
||
|
Overdoses Where 9-1-1 Was Called |
1 |
|
|
Overdoses That Resulted in a Transport to the Emergency Department for Treatment |
1 |
|
Client Experience Narrative
Beyond the number of client visits recorded in the month of December, SafePoint continues to demonstrate that the services being offered are having a positive impact on clients, as highlighted through the following client experience narrative:
Anonymous Client
An individual walking by SafePoint knocked on the entrance door and was brought into the site by staff. The individual informed staff that they felt like they may be “going down” (i.e., experiencing an overdose) and asked for a naloxone kit. After receiving the kit, the individual proceeded to administer naloxone on themselves and staff monitored them afterwards to support their recovery.
NEXT STEPS AND FUTURE INITIATIVES
The WECHU, in collaboration with the SafePoint Advisory Committee, prepared and implemented a mitigation plan for the pause in services to support clients and the community throughout the period of transition. Strategies implemented through the plan were as follows:
- Staff at SafePoint met with clients individually over the course of December to create plans for their care while services are paused and to support connections to other community agencies as needed. Clients were also provided with information about alternative harm reduction strategies and supports that they can continue to use during the disruption.
- The WECHU connected with multiple community partners towards the end of 2023 to establish connections and increase accessibility to other health and social services in the area that clients can continue to use during the disruption. A list of these services was developed and posted to the SafePoint web page for the community to access: www.wecoss.ca/cts.
- The WECHU developed plans in collaboration with Family Services Windsor-Essex (FSWE) to increase the availability of outreach supports in the areas surrounding SafePoint in the early months of 2024. The Mobile Outreach Support Team (MOST) van will be making nightly stops near SafePoint until the end of March to look out for those seeking the services of SafePoint and to provide harm reduction supplies and referrals to community services. Other relevant outreach strategies are also in development in partnership with FSWE’s Housing Outreach Workers.
- Community partners involved in the Windsor-Essex Community Opioid and Substance Strategy were provided with a key messaging document to support conversations with their clients who use SafePoint about the pause in services. Partners were also encouraged to promote the National Overdose Response Service (https://www.nors.ca/) to anyone who might benefit from the services of a virtual safer consumption hotline.
- Messaging about the pause in operations and the other services available for support was also shared with those subscribed to the SafePoint email subscription list. Moving forward, this list and the SafePoint web page will continue to be maintained by the WECHU to share updates with the community about the site. To subscribe to SafePoint emails, individuals can visit www.wecoss.ca/cts. The SafePoint email inbox (CTSQuestions@wechu.org) will also continue to be monitored by the WECHU to respond to questions and concerns from the community.
While services are paused, ongoing communication will be maintained with the Ministry of Health for updates regarding the status of the WECHU’s CTS application, provincial funding, and a potential
re-opening under the CTS model. The legal exemption required from Health Canada to operate SafePoint under this model was secured in July of 2023.