Grande Prairie woman calls on provincial government to declare opioid crisis a public health emergency

Avalon says Sebastian had dabbled in drugs before and had both physical and mental health problems, including a brain AVM – a condition that interferes with normal blood circulation.

She says required surgery to keep him from dying from this condition “kept getting cancelled because of COVID.”

“When that surgery was cancelled, that’s when he really started falling downhill. (It was) an attitude of I’m probably going to die young anyhow, what’s the point?”

Heemskerk says there were a lot of things that led to her brother Sebastian falling into addiction and many times where his family tried to get him help but could not find any.

She thinks earlier interventions could prevent more deaths.

“The public awareness campaign comes from the idea that people should be more aware of this, people should be talking more about the dangers around drugs and that people should know how to use naloxone kits more and where to get them.”

Heemskerk says “the services that exist in Grande Prairie are amazing, but they’re not necessarily on par with other places in the province, a, but b, a lot of the programs are really short.”

“There’s research that shows (that) to have a really good base, when you’re fighting an addiction, you need a 90-day rehab program.”

Heemskerk says Sebastian died after taking meth that was mixed with fentanyl.

She says the amount of fentanyl it takes to kill someone is smaller than a grain of sand.

Heemskerk says she has been told that drug dealers are not necessarily mixing drugs on purpose, but rather they are not cleaning scales when switching between drugs, meaning fentanyl can end up in anything.

Heemskerk says the week her brother died, the Grande Prairie and Beaverlodge areas saw five young people die from overdoses.

Heemskerk’s petition was recently presented to the legislature by NDP MLA Marlon Schmidt. She thinks 1000 signatures “sends a very strong and clear message to the government.”

“That this is something that people do care about. A thousand doesn’t even represent the number of people who died last year.”

Heemskerk says there are a lot of people care about this and every one of the people who died “have people who loved them and have been affected by those deaths.”

She adds she did not feel she got the reaction she was hoping for when it was presented in the legislature. She says there were some “sad nods” but also felt that the politicians acted like they had heard about people dying before.

Heemskerk recently moved to Edmonton to complete her education. She says she and others may soon start a website that lets people fill in a form about their experience, one that would be forwarded to several provincial cabinet ministers.

She wants people to know that all the pharmacies in the Grande and the Northreach Society have naloxone kits available. Heemskerk says people never know when someone may try drugs and having a kit around may save their life.

Heemskerk says things may have been different for Sebastian if he had been found earlier by someone who had a naloxone kit and knew how to use it.

by Curtis Galbraith

Grande Prairie woman calls on provincial government to declare opioid crisis a public health emergency

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