Photo: Canadian Press File

By Shaun Penner

Opioid Crisis

Fentanyl-related fatality rate down in GP; remains highest in Alberta

Oct 1, 2019 | 10:04 AM

Alberta Health’s latest update on opioid related fatalities in the province shows Grande Prairie saw a slightly slower rate in accidental fentanyl-related poisoning deaths in the second quarter of 2019.

But the Swan City still has the highest rate of fentanyl-related fatalities, by far, in Alberta.

Following the release of the Opioid Response Surveillance Report for the first half of 2019, Grande Prairie sits at a rate of 51 people per 100,000 to fall fatally victim to apparent accidental fentanyl-related drug poisoning. That rate is set by the 19 deaths reported in GP between January and June.

The rate is lowered from the 59 people per 100,000 that was set here through the first quarter of the year, after 11 of the 19 fatalities occurred in the first three months of the year.

This map shows where overdose deaths have been occurring in the City (Photo: Alberta Health)

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Both of those rates are up from the 24 and 27 fatalities reported in Grande Prairie in all of 2018 and 2017, respectively.

The second highest rate of fentanyl-related deaths in the province (amongst the seven largest municipalities in Alberta) was Lethbridge, which comes in at a rate of 22.5 people per 100,000 following the 11 fatalities the city has seen this year.

Province-wide, the total number of fatalities rose from 135 people in the first quarter, to 153 in quarter two.

Grande Prairie’s Emergency Medical Services have been amongst the busiest in the province in responding to overdoses. Behind Calgary and Edmonton, Grande Prairie EMS teams have responded to 136 opioid related events, the most in Alberta. That already surpasses the total number of responses in 2017 and is on pace to beat the total number from 2018, which was 164.

Alberta Health also states in the report that on average, two people die every day in Alberta from an apparent accidental opioid poisoning.