The Chatham-Kent Board of Health is supporting a call by the Association of Local Public Health Agencies (ALPHA) for the province to declare the opioid epidemic an emergency.
Three CK Board of Health members were at the ALPHA conference and annual general meeting on Tuesday where the opioid epidemic was discussed.
Councillor Karen Kirkwood-Whyte was among them and said ALPHA members heard that the opioid crisis worsened during COVID-19 and many Ontario communities are reporting record numbers of opioid-related deaths.
Kirkwood-Whyte said many in Chatham-Kent who use drugs are saying that the opioid numbers are a "gross under-representation of the true situation in our communities and province" because many of the people who experience toxic drug poisoning are not captured in the current data.
"The drug poisoning crisis in Ontario needs to be declared an emergency in order for a response to be a priority for local public health units, local and provincial governments, and to warrant the same urgency and intensity as the COVID-19 pandemic," said Kirkwood-Whyte.
Kirkwood-Whyte said the idea is to get the opioid crisis on Premier Doug Ford's radar to urge him to take a stronger role and do more.
"Cabinet has not been formed yet and we want to make absolutely sure that we have the attention that this item deserves when cabinet is formed," she said.
On Friday, Chatham-Kent Public Health reported 21 deaths so far this year that they suspect are related to drugs (a number of them opioid-related), compared to 15 confirmed opioid deaths in all of 2021 and 15 in 2020. Local health officials previously said 65 per cent of those deaths were among those aged 25 to 44.
They also reported that fentanyl was the opioid directly contributing to the death in over 90 per cent of the fatalities.
According to the June 2022 statistics, there have been 25 opioid overdose-related visits to the emergency department by residents to date.
There have also been 37 suspected opioid overdose-related calls to paramedics so far this year, according to the public health unit.
Public health officials said the number of opioid overdose-related EMS calls and suspected drug deaths in May were higher than in previous months. They also said the local rate of emergency department visits for 2022 to date is comparable to the province overall.
"CK experienced a similar high rate of death in 2021 as in 2020. CK experienced a high number of opioid-related EMS calls for service and a high number of suspect drug-related deaths in the month of May. This increasing trend as we enter warmer months has been observed in previous years as well," said Epidemiologist Laura Zettler. "An alert went out to partners about potential increased local risk on May 24, 2022 based on a high number of calls attended by CK-EMS. Although EMS calls appear to have declined in the first week of June, information received recently from the Coroner’s Office has revealed a higher than normal number of suspect drug-related deaths in the first week of June for the Chatham-Kent area."