Island Health is planning on offering mobile supervised consumption services to people in Victoria.
Beginning April 3, the supervised consumption site on 941 Pandora Ave., known as The Harbour, will transition to a new model that will see harm reduction and overdose prevention services provided on a mobile basis.
Island Health said the change is due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Instead of people coming to us at a fixed location, we will be going to them,” an Island Health representative told CHEK News, adding that those who worked inside The Harbour will now be providing the service “outside” to those around Pandora Avenue.
Details about how the mobile service will be provided are still being worked out at the moment, but The Harbour building will remain open and serve as a triage site to “support people without respiratory symptoms who are homeless and underserved,” while individuals with respiratory symptoms will be “assessed” at a location that “supports self-isolation,” according to Island Health.
Island Health also says it is working with the City of Victoria and BC Housing to find locations that provide “adequate sanitation, food, overdose prevention and other social, health and wellness services.”
Topaz Park and Royal Athletic Park have been identified as sites by the City of Victoria, according to Island Health.
Other overdose prevention sites in Campbell River, Courtenay, Nanaimo, Port Alberni, Cowichan and Victoria will continue to operate, but with fewer people allowed to access the facilities at a single time in order to ensure there is adequate distance between visitors.
CHEK News
