Hamilton votes to meet with hospitals about hosting a supervised injection site

Staff from Hamilton's Public Health department will be meeting with officials from local hospitalsabout the possibility of setting up a permanentsupervised injection sites at one oftheir locations.

City councilapproved a motion by Ward 2 Councillor Jason Farr Wednesday, asking that the meetings be made a "priority" as agencies searching for a site have had trouble finding a landlord willing to host it.

• City in talks with Hamilton hospitals about hosting supervised injection sites

While making his motion, Farr described public health officials and their counterparts are the city's hospitals as "partners in crisis."

"Seventy-fivedeaths in less than a year in Hamilton, a tragic statistic that's 75 per cent above the provincial average is indeed a crisis," he added.

Mayor supports hospital site

Mayor Fred Eisenbergerpreviously wrote in an email to councillors that "discussions" with hospital officials were ongoing before Farr's motion formalized the process.

"In my mind, the best locale for a safe injection site is in one of our hospitals," the mayor said,"or in a hospital-owned facility very near one of our inner city hospitals."

Theopioidcrisis will only be solved through a partnership between all parties involved.- Dr.WesStephen,Hamilton Health Sciences

Hamilton Health Sciences also issued a statement last weekin response to questions about the possible partnership.

The response expressed support for collaborative efforts to combat overdoses, but did not directly deal with whether the corporation is willingto host a site.

"HHS is working with its partners to address the needs of very vulnerable members of our community," read the statement fromDr.WesStephen, Executive Vice President ofClinical Operations and Chief Operating Officer.

"The opioid crisis will only be solved through a partnership between all parties involved."

Province approved temporary location

The move by council comes just a day afterthe province announced approval for a temporary overdose prevention site run by the Shelter Health Network through apartnership with Hamilton Urban Core CHCat the inner city health centre's 71 Rebecca St. location.

The facilitywillinclude an area for three people at a time to inject "pre-obtained" drugs under the watch of a medical professional.

• Here's how Hamilton's new supervised injection site will work

The funding sets the new Hamilton location up for six months, with the possibility of an extension in the future.

Dr. JillWiwcharuk with the health network said she hopes the location will be up and running within a week or two.