Grande Prairie's supervised consumption services currently operate out of a mobile unit (white cube van in picture). Plans would see the site brought inside the Rotary House, where the mobile unit is currently stationed (Photo: Shaun Penner / EverythingGP staff)

By Shaun Penner

Supervised Consumption Services

Province eyes moving Grande Prairie supervised consumption site inside Rotary House

May 28, 2021 | 4:15 PM

Plans are in the works that could see supervised consumption services in Grande Prairie moved from the mobile unit parked outside the Rotary House to a permanent location within the facility.

The potential changes were revealed Thursday in leaked documents obtained by the Calgary Herald, which revealed plans for greater changes to the overall supervised consumption services operating model in the province.

In an emailed statement to EverythingGP, Justin Marshall, the press secretary for Associate Minister of Mental Health and Addictions Jason Luan, said the province is taking a site-by-site approach to how they are transforming supervised consumption sites around the province.

“Alberta’s government is taking a city‐by‐city approach to transforming Alberta’s supervised consumption sites that considers community impact, the need for services and the ability to integrate within a recovery‐oriented continuum of care.”

The Grande Prairie SCS has been operating out of the mobile unit at the Rotary House since March of 2019. Sites also operate in Calgary, Edmonton, Red Deer and Lethbridge.

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Marshall adds in his statement that there are no firm timelines or details at this time about the transition, as they continue to work with community partner agencies on the final details.

“The possibility of relocating current services into Rotary House in Grande Prairie would allow us to integrate other health care services within one facility,” Marshall adds “It also gives it a permanent home.”

The leaked documents also detailed that the province plans to close the downtown SCS in Calgary in favour of opening two new facilities in different locations of the city.

Marshall stressed however that supervised consumption services will continue to operate in Alberta.

“Our government is committed to a high quality and easily accessible system of care for both mental health and addictions that includes a full continuum of supports, including services to reduce harm.

“Albertans deserve no less. People with addiction deserve no less.”

The SCS in Grande Prairie is currently operated by the Northreach Society, and Marshall did not comment on whether the province was considering changing operators with the move.

EverythingGP has reached out to Northreach for comment and is awaiting a response.

The SCS in Grande Prairie celebrated its second anniversary on March 11. At that time, Clinical Lead Tracy Pelgrim said the site had seen 321 individuals make 17,499 visits to the site.

“On site, we have had [209] overdose interventions, 141 of those included oxygen usage only or coaching, and 57 included Naloxone,” she told EverythingGP at that time.

“We’ve also responded to over 50 overdoses off-site, which means the Rotary House, Saint Lawrence Centre area, and those are usually responded with Naloxone because we’re called to respond to those.”

Pelgrim added that as of that time, EMS had only attended the site 10 times since it opened, meaning 199 calls were prevented through on-site response alone. There had also been zero deaths recorded at this, or any, supervised consumption site in Canada.

The proposed changes also follow the deadliest year on record for opioid overdose deaths in the province, which totalled 1,144 in 2020. In Grande Prairie, there were 33 fatalities linked to opioid poisonings, also a five-year high.

In the first two months of 2021, there have been seven opioid-linked fatalities in the Swan City.