Timmins leads the way in several categories for the worst opioid crisis in Ontario, if not Canada. And two emergency room doctors used several sobering statistics as the basis for a plea with Timmins council to act quickly, at Tuesday’s council meeting..
Drs. Louisa Marion-Bellemar and Julie Samson say the city has most of the programs and facilities it needs to reverse that. But they’re all designed around outdated addiction habits.
Dr. Bellemar says all those services have to come under one umbrella and work together. And she says the city needs a detox facility and a safe injection site.
“I think we all agree that the status quo cannot continue and that our inactions are actually contributing to people’s deaths,” she told council. “We need to come together with the primary goal to decrease mortality. We need to decrease deaths in our community.”
Last year, Timmins had 20 opioid deaths – per capita, the highest in Ontario. It’s on track to be worse this year.
The doctors got the full backing of Mayor George Pirie and his eight councillors.
