Release Date
Geography
Language of Resource
Full Text Available
Open Access / OK to Reproduce
Peer Reviewed
Objective
This webinar exists to kick off the research report (linked on webinar webpage) about opioid-related toxicity deaths in homeless shelters. During the webinar, speakers share a summary of findings, as well as implications for policy and practice. This is followed by a discussion among community-based organizations and people with lived experience on how the report’s findings can help inform program improvements, as well as services and supports in shelters across the province. Speakers provide strategies that can guide harm reduction interventions, improve access to healthcare and help prevent avoidable deaths from substance use in shelters.
Findings/Key points
Between 2018 and 2022, the quarterly number of opioid-related toxicity deaths within shelters nearly quadrupled, rising from 8 deaths (Q2 2018) to 31 deaths (Q2 2022). Homeless individuals are disproportionately impacted by opioid toxicity, and this indicates an urgent need to expand access to harm reduction services, healthcare, social care, and treatment programs.
Design/methods
The study conducted a cross-sectional descriptive study of trends, characteristics, and patterns of healthcare use among people who died of an opioid-related toxicity within shelters in Ontario, Canada between January 1, 2018 and June 30, 2022 — a time frame that encompasses periods before and during the COVID-19 pandemic.