"Too many losses": Area First Nation uses new tools to fight opioid addiction
Chief Jason Henry has - first hand - witnessed the loss of community members to the opioid crisis.
He has also offered a shoulder to his children when they’ve lost friends.
“My oldest son has physically lost a friend to addiction already. And many of his peers are stuck in addiction.”
As in many communities, the crisis here has become an urgent situation. It’s impacting multiple generations.
“Really the residential school…That’s what’s playing out today. Those inter-generational traumas are what’s causing this.”
So, Chief Henry and others have decided to take action.
Many of the measures are immediate, including a pop-up drop-in centre.
It is located in front of a former senior’s centre across from the communities car wash.
Henry says each Wednesday at 1 p.m. addiction battling supplies and advice are offered.
This week alone 50 naloxone kits were distributed.
“Those weren’t not just given to those struggling with addictions. They were given family members and community members and others that stopped by. And they were trained on how to deploy naloxone.”
But, the new initiative is not the only one being rolled out or formulated.
Henry met Thursday with Forest Pharmacist Al Ladak.
Before COVID-19, Ladak frequently distributed methadone to those struggling with opioids from Kettle and Stony Point.
But transportation to his Forest Pharmacy ended, leaving his patients struggling to find a ride.
Ladak and Henry want to see funded transportation resume or, better yet, a methadone dispensary created on the First Nation.
“It would make it easier for people to access the services than to getting to the pharmacy and looking for transportation,” Ladak tells CTV News London.
Down the road, Henry says early 2022 has been set as a goal to restart a traditional healing lodge.
The Southwest Regional Healing Lodge was in place at Muncey-Delaware until 2018.
Henry says it’s crucial it restarts - somewhere - to help counter the crisis.
“What we are asking for in the community is every tool in the toolbox. Everything we can possibly do to help effect change when it comes to the opioid crisis.”
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Doctors say capital gains tax changes will jeopardize their retirement. Is that true?
The Canadian Medical Association asserts the Liberals' proposed changes to capital gains taxation will put doctors' retirement savings in jeopardy, but some financial experts insist incorporated professionals are not as doomed as they say they are.
Something in the water? Canadian family latest to spot elusive 'Loch Ness Monster'
For centuries, people have wondered what, if anything, might be lurking beneath the surface of Loch Ness in Scotland. When Canadian couple Parry Malm and Shannon Wiseman visited the Scottish highlands earlier this month with their two children, they didn’t expect to become part of the mystery.
Fair in Ontario, flurries in Labrador: Weather systems make for an erratic spring
It's no secret that spring can be a tumultuous time for Canadian weather, and as an unseasonably mild El Nino winter gives way to summer, there's bound to be a few swings in temperature that seem out of the ordinary. From Ontario to the Atlantic, though, this week is about to feel a little erratic.
What a urologist wants you to know about male infertility
When opposite sex couples are trying and failing to get pregnant, the attention often focuses on the woman. That’s not always the case.
'It was instant karma': Viral video captures failed theft attempt in Nanaimo, B.C.
Mounties in Nanaimo, B.C., say two late-night revellers are lucky their allegedly drunken antics weren't reported to police after security cameras captured the men trying to steal a heavy sign from a downtown business.
Bank of Canada officials split on when to start cutting interest rates
Members of the Bank of Canada's governing council were split on how long the central bank should wait before it starts cutting interest rates when they met earlier this month.
Quebec nurse had to clean up after husband's death in Montreal hospital
On a night she should have been mourning, a nurse from Quebec's Laurentians region says she was forced to clean up her husband after he died at a hospital in Montreal.
Northern Ont. lawyer who abandoned clients in child protection cases disbarred
A North Bay, Ont., lawyer who abandoned 15 clients – many of them child protection cases – has lost his licence to practise law.
An Ontario senior thought he called Geek Squad for help with his printer. Instead, he got scammed out of $25,000
An Ontario senior’s attempt to get technical help online led him into a spoofing scam where he lost $25,000. Now, he’s sharing his story to warn others.