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On Monday, I spent some time at a pop-up overdose prevention site (OPS) that a group of addictions medicine doctors had set up outside the Nanaimo Regional General Hospital. 

I talked with doctors, nurses, students, and family members who had lost loved ones to the public health emergency that has claimed 18,617 lives since 2014, according to the BC Coroners Service

The toxic drug crisis has claimed 548 lives in Nanaimo in the past 10 years. To put that in perspective, those people would have been able to fill all the seats in the main level of The Port Theatre if they were still alive.  

On my way downtown to work at The Vault Cafe on Wednesday morning, as my internet at home was still knocked out from the bomb cyclone, I stopped by the OPS to check in on how things were going. It was then that I learned that a man who had used the OPS on Monday died early Tuesday morning alone in a washroom in the hospital emergency department.

Doctors and nurses at the OPS told me they knew the man well and were upset but also determined to continue to advocate for better services at the hospital for people who use drugs. 

I am privileged to bring you an in-depth look at the OPS set up this week by Doctors for Safer Drug Policy and help tell some of the stories by the doctors and nurses about what it’s like for patients with substance use disorders to try and access care at Central Vancouver Island’s largest hospital. 

Patient overdose death at Nanaimo hospital ‘didn’t have to happen,’ doctor says

The night after an unsanctioned Overdose Prevention Site was barred from setting up on Nanaimo Regional General Hospital property, a patient died in an ER washroom.

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On the Island

🌊 We are firmly in storm season and Comox Valley reporter Madeline Dunnett’s recent reporting on the City of Courtenay is working to mitigate floods in that city is very relevant. You can also read how Courtenay is working to shore up the banks of the river to protect infrastructure such as bridges from flood events. 

🌊 Local governments in the Cowichan Valley are also looking at how they can better prepare for the impact of climate change through a new climate risk strategy. Eric Richards and Shalu Mehta have the story.

In other news

👉 Some parks in Nanaimo remain closed including the Oliver Woods Playground, Seabold Beach Access and Saxar Park as the City of Nanaimo continues to clean up the damage after a bomb cyclone hit Vancouver Island on Tuesday, bringing down trees and knocking out power across the Island. Nanaimo News Now has the story.

👉 The City of Nanaimo, along with former mayor Bill McKay and city councillor Sheryl Armstrong, has reached a settlement in a lawsuit filed by its former chief administrative officer. The Nanaimo News Bulletin has the story.

👉 A person who killed and skinned a rabbit near the Brechin Boat Ramp this week wasn’t breaking any laws as the rabbits are considered invasive species and are not protected. The Nanaimo News Bulletin has the skinny.

👉 A BC Coroners Service inquest into a fatal police shooting at a Nanaimo ferry terminal in 2018 is recommending that paramedics be on site in incidents involving armed suspects. The jury said that the RCMP and Emergency Health Services B.C. should “consider co-ordinating the staging of advanced-care paramedics in operations, instead of primary-care paramedics, involving planned apprehensions where the subject may be armed.” The Nanaimo News Bulletin has the story.

👉 Nanaimo city council voted to help out downtown businesses during construction on Commercial Street by allowing two hours of free parking on two levels of the Bastion Street Parkade during the first phase of construction which is expected to last until May. CHLY 101.7FM has the story. 

👉 Award-winning Cree/Iroquois/French journalist Brandi Morin spoke at Vancouver Island University last night as part of the university’s Indigenous Speakers Series. Before her talk, she spoke with CHLY’s Joe Pugh on Midcoast Morning about her work.

Community photo

I finally edited some of my photos that I took at Neck Point Park of the spectacular show of the Northern Lights on May 11, 2024. Photo by Mick Sweetman / The Discourse.

Have a photo you'd like to share? Send it to nanaimo@thediscourse.ca. We'd love to see the community through your lens.

See you around town,

— Mick, Shalu and The Discourse team

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