5 | durhamregion.com This Week | Thursday, March 24, 2022 905.725.3695 www.deegandentureclinics.com Denture Services SAME DAY REPAIRS & RELINES COMPLETE & PARTIAL DENTURES IMPLANT SUPPORTED DENTURES FREE CONSULTATIONS & NO OBLIGATION DENTURES CRAFTED ON-SITE Quality dentures with Exceptional service 4 GENERATIONS www.deeganhearingclinic.com Rechargeable Hearing Aids, No More Batteries! Hearing Services HEARING TESTS & NO-OBLIGATION CONSULTATIONS NEWEST IN HEARING AID TECHNOLOGY "MASK-FRIENDLY" HEARING AID SOLUTIONS (NOTHING BEHIND THE EAR AND RECHARGEABLE!) TINNITUS SOLUTIONS ON-SITE HEARING AID REPAIR & CLEANING Amy Deegan, HIS, Hons BA Sarah Deegan, DD Philip Deegan, DD Brian Deegan, DD 905.240.50551031 Simcoe St. N Oshawa Covid Safety Protocols in Place Hearing Services Hearing TesTs & no-obligaTion ConsulTaTions newesT in Hearing aid TeCHnology "Mask-Friendly" Hearing aid soluTions (noTHing beHind THe ear and reCHargeable!) TinniTus soluTions wax reMoval on-siTe Hearing aid repair & Cleaning Friday, March 11 marked a milestone: It was the second anniversary of the declaration of COVID-19 as a global pandemic. It has been a grim and sometimes frightening slog. But now Ontario and other jurisdictions are shifting gears; restrictions are being lifted and a return to normal, in recent times so difficult to imagine, seems possible. Running concurrently with the pandemic, however, Durham has been mired in another epidemic: soaring overdoses and deaths attributed to the use of opioids. It is a crisis that was present prior to the onset of the pandemic and that has continued, and worsened, as the world's attention focused on the virus. The result has been a strain on an already overburdened health-care system and misery for users, said Beth Brannon, senior director of mental health and addictions at Lakeridge Health. "This is a crisis that has been evolving over several years. When you look at the public health numbers, you look at the paramedic calls, DRPS calls, you can look at the number of deaths, we're seeing all of those climb. You can see them climb across the province and the country, actually," Brannon said. "The most staggering for us is the (emergency department) visits," she added. "We've seen a 217 per cent increase since 2017, which is really quite dramatic." What was already an epidemic of addiction has been worsened by a pandemic that has disrupted services and isolated users who rely on an often toxic and sometimes deadly drug supply, according to Dr. Sajida Afridi, division head of addiction medicine at Lakeridge Health. "The COVID-19 pandemic has clearly exacerbated all the numbers and there are multiple factors that are responsible," she said. The drug supply is increasingly tainted with substances that include fentanyl, carfentanil and benzodiazepines -- fentanyl alone has been determined to have contributed to 87 per cent of opioid deaths recorded during the pandemic, Dr. Afridi said. "So that was one significant driver. The second was public health measures, which included physical distancing. That caused a huge reduction in the availability (of) and access to services. There were reduced pharmacy hours for our patients who were going for methadone and suboxone dosing every day," Dr. Afridi said. "Then there were reduced hours for harm-reduction services. And many people who were attending in-person counselling and support groups were unable to attend those -- and those were their social network." Statistics released by the Region of Durham Paramedic Services indicate the service responded to 998 calls for suspected opioid overdoses in 2021, an increase over the total of 725 such calls in 2020. In 2019, the paramedic service responded to 591 calls, according to the statistics. Confirmed opioid deaths also appeared to be trending upward in 2021, although those statistics remained incomplete at the time the end of the year report was released. Between January and July of 2021, some 73 deaths had been confirmed, according to the report. There were a total of 94 opioid-related deaths in all of 2020, according to the statistics. That's five times the number of fatalities confirmed in 2013. "The number of deaths related to opioid poisoning in Durham Region residents has been increasing over the past eight years," the report states. In 2020, two-thirds of the calls for suspected ODs -- 66 per cent -- originated in Oshawa, a trend that has been apparent for some time, according to the data. Newer statistics indicate that from the beginning of 2022 until the end of February, Durham paramedics responded to 80 overdose calls, a reduction from the 112 recorded during the same period in 2021. The issue is one of acute importance for Oshawa Mayor Dan Carter, who advocates for a multipronged approach that includes delivering services to those caught in the addiction trap while bringing the force of the law to bear on drug dealers who prey on a vulnerable cohort. "The one area that frustrates me more than anything is the victimization. We have to understand that many of those who are unsheltered or living on our streets have severe, complex mental health issues. And on top of that, many of them are also dealing with an addiction issue. And they're being preyed upon," said Carter. "We're trying to figure out how do we get into contact with these individuals. How do we get them into the right stream, so we can support them so that they won't be victimized." Carter recently made a presentation to the Durham Regional Police Services Board, seeking police support to fight drug trafficking downtown. Dealers need to be identified and prosecuted, he said. "They have to understand that selling poison to people who live on our streets, for profit, is against the law. And I want those individuals held accountable," he said. "But the other side of it is, those individuals who are seeking out those drugs, we've got to help those individuals." Despite the gloomy statistics, Lakeridge's Brannon takes heart in what she sees as a genuine commitment by relevant community agencies to tackle the opioid issue. "This is an incredibly complex program that no one agency, no one service, no one industry will solve alone," she said. "I am incredibly proud of how this region has come together to try and respond to this. You've got health services working with police, working with housing, working with public health ... to say, how can we wrap around these people and get them the care not only that they need, but that they deserve. I think there's been a huge coalition that's come together." OPIOID ODS, DEATHS IN DURHAM ROSE DURING COVID-19 PANDEMIC JEFF MITCHELL jmitchell@durhamregion.com NEWS Beth Brannon, senior director of mental health and addictions, and Dr. Sajida Afridi, division head of addiction medicine, both of Lakeridge Health, are among the professionals in community organizations working to cope with increasing opioid overdoses and deaths in Durham Region. Jason Liebregts/Metroland