Woodstock-area health unit highlights opioid crisis through Vital Perspectives series

The sharp increase in opioid-related deaths in the region since 2016 has local public health officials working to change both its services – and the public’s attitudes – in an attempt to slow and reverse the crisis.

Acknowledging the opioid epidemic is not just a big city problem, officials with the public health agency for St. Thomas and Oxford and Elgin counties decided the first segment of its new four-part Vital Perspectives series will focus on this crisis.

“Public health’s role in the pandemic response has dominated headlines and conversations for the past three years. Today, we’re pointing the spotlight on the crisis of substance use disorders and the enormous social, physical, and psychological harms they cause individuals, families, and communities,” said Cynthia St. John, the CEO of Southwestern public health, in a release.

“The opioid crisis – the crisis of overdose deaths and injuries – is not a problem somewhere else. It’s a tragedy right here.”

The extent of the crisis in this region is shockingly apparent when looking at the local numbers.

Starting in 2016, local opioid-related emergency department visits began to grow, reaching roughly one-and-a-half times the provincial rate by 2021. The local hospitalization rate has been higher than the provincial rate for every year since 2011 and was twice that rate in 2021.

Most troubling, the rate of opioid-related deaths has increased more than both emergency department visits and hospitalizations, more than doubling from 2019 to 2021 and far surpassing the provincial rate.

“We hope that by telling local stories, very local stories, we can inspire discussion about what is needed and what is standing in the way of better health for our community,” St. John said.

The stories shared through the first edition of Vital Perspectives highlight trauma, mental-health issues, service gaps, wait times for support and the stigma associated with opioid use. These barriers often prevent people living with addiction to achieve better health, officials said.

“The current crisis is incredibly challenging because it requires so many services to come together differently. It requires that we rethink our attitudes about the causes of substance use and addiction. I hope that these stories also show that there is hope, and there is healing – and people can move toward better health with the right supports,” St. John said.

A four-minute video, written stories, original photography and infographics about the local opioid crisis can be viewed at www.swpublichealth.ca/vitalperspectives.

Over the next 19 months, the health unit will release similar stories through Vital Perspectives about climate change and health, community belonging, and health and homelessness.