Around Town: Two weeks for $2 million, COVID-19 / Opiod double whammy . . .

Union Gospel Mission  (UGM) and The Salvation Army have joined forces to create a COVID Relief Together initiative – and their goal is to raise $2 million in two weeks.

Speaking on CTV News last week, UGM spokesperson Jeremy Hunka said residents of the Downtown Eastside are now particularly vulnerable to the coronavirus on a couple of fronts:

“Some have immune system deficiencies. They’ve been beaten and battered from being homeless or living outside already and we know that the health outcomes for COVID-19 for that specific group of the population are far worse,” he said.

“So if there were an outbreak, it would be devastating to the Downtown Eastside or the homeless community.”

Another challenge facing the neighbourhood is that many organizations or service providers have been forced to reduce or suspend some of their services because of the pandemic. This comes as many people who have recently been laid off are now seeking out those services.

“So there’s fewer places to go. There’s a greater need,” said Hunka.

Here is how the two ministries describe their partnership:

Union Gospel Mission and The Salvation Army (British Columbia Division) have partnered, creating the COVID Relief Together initiative to assist individuals and families in need of emergency relief and basic necessities.

We’re all in this together, and we need your help to raise $2 million in two weeks to care for our neighbours impacted by COVID-19 during these difficult times.

You’ll provide everything from meals and care packages to counselling and shelter services to people most affected by this crisis. Your gift will offer essential relief to fellow British Columbians during and after the pandemic.

We can’t do it without you – please help us reach $2 million for your neighbours in need today.

You can donate here.

COVID-19 / opioid crisis

Benjamin Perrin is a professor at UBC’s Peter A. Allard School of Law.

Vancouver Mayor Kennedy Stewart has some massive financial issues hanging over his head, but he has also focused on the particular threat to the Downtown Eastside posed by the combination of COVID-19 and the opioid crisis. (For example, in a April 14 Vancouver Sun opinion piece.)

UBC law professor Benjamin Perrin, author of the just-released Overdose: Heartbreak and Hope in Canada’s Opioid Crisis is equally concerned.

He also wrote a comment in the Sun, with Jordan Westfall, president of the Canadian Association for Safe Supply. It began:

Canada is in the midst of two simultaneous public health emergencies – the COVID-19 and drug-overdose epidemics. We are gravely concerned that this has all the makings of a perfect storm that will exacerbate suffering and loss of life if immediate action isn’t taken.

The response to COVID-19 has rightly been rapid, intense and extensive. Tragically, the opposite is true of the continuing opioid crisis, which has already claimed over 14,000 lives in Canada since 2016, with a person dying every two hours. It’s Canada’s forgotten public health emergency. . . .

A central urgent issue is ensuring that people who use illicit drugs across Canada have access to a “safe supply.” As people who use drugs have reduced access to drugs during COVID-19 and take less, their tolerance will rapidly reduce. The medical research is clear that abstinence (voluntary or not) increases the risk of a fatal overdose when the person uses again. And opioid-use disorder is understood to be a chronic, relapsing condition.

Without providing people who use drugs with a safe supply of drugs of known potency and contents during COVID-19 and beyond, people who use drugs are at increased risk of overdose.

Perrin should be taken seriously, both as a legal expert who changed his mind after studying the matter in depth and as a Christian brother.

Webinars / online events

While in-person events have been cancelled (with a couple of exceptions in unique circumstances), a new crop of webinars, virtual cafes and such online events have taken their place. See below.