Pubdate: Wed, 28 Dec 2016
Source: Daily Courier, The (CN BC)
Copyright: 2016 The Okanagan Valley Group of Newspapers
Contact:  http://www.kelownadailycourier.ca
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/531
Author: Ron Seymour
Page: A2

OVERDOSE TENT COULD RETURN

A pop-up overdose-prevention centre attracted police and media but no drug
users to a Kelowna park.

Still, organizers say their first effort was more about building awareness
and they will return to Roxby Park in Rutland if additional volunteers
come forward.

"We had reporters and the RCMP come by, but that was it, and that's OK,"
Norah Bowman said Tuesday. "This was a show of support for drug users, but
I fully understand people might not have wanted to come out and find
themselves on TV.

"But if we do this regularly, provide the service consistently, I think
people will start to come out," Bowman said.

Bowman, who has training in the administration of the anti-overdose drug
naloxone, and several other people set up the pop-up overdose-prevention
centre on Boxing Day.

They say they were motivated to do so by the opioid overdose crisis in
B.C., which has led to the deaths of more than 600 people provincewide.
About two-thirds of those people died after using drugs laced with
fentanyl.

Interior Health has opened an overdose-prevention centre in downtown
Kelowna, but plans for a similar facility in Rutland are on hold while
officials search for a suitable site.

Bowman, a college English instructor who ran for the NDP in last year's
federal election, and the other volunteers say they are providing an
emergency response service until that facility opens.

Their three-hour effort was not without controversy. Police received at
least one complaint, and they came by to check on what Bowman and the
others were doing in the park. An officer took notes but left shortly
afterward.

"I'd say the police mood was generally friendly and supportive," Bowman
said. "They had to come because they'd had a complaint, but they certainly
didn't tell us to pack up the tent and go away. They came back a couple
times, but that was probably just to check on us because it was so cold."

Among those joining Bowman was Michele Rule, a former city councillor.

Bowman says anyone who wants to assist at future pop-up
overdose-prevention centres can contact her through Facebook.

Bowman said she has a personal connection to the opioid overdose crisis as
a relative is a former heroin addict who has spent time in jail.
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