Doctors were met by security as they set up unapproved overdose prevention sites at hospitals on Vancouver Island

An effort by doctors to set up overdose prevention sites on hospital grounds in Nanaimo and Victoria was halted by the island's health authority on Monday, forcing volunteers to move their operations across the street.

Doctors and other volunteers tried to set up sites on the grounds of Nanaimo General and Royal Jubilee hospitals out of frustration that the BC government has not kept its promise to free up space for overdose prevention in health care facilities.

Dr. Jess Wilder, an addiction and family medicine specialist in Nanaimo, said her work has been mired in “controversy and politicization” lately, and that setting up overdose prevention sites is “about saving lives.”

Wilder said B.C.'s government promised to open sites at every hospital in the province in April, but that never materialized.

She said she and other health care professionals are donating their own money and time to set up and run the “pop-up” sites at Nanaimo Regional General Hospital and Royal Jubilee Hospital in Victoria throughout the week, starting on Monday – the day the new BC cabinet was sworn in.

She said volunteers were met in Nanaimo by police and hospital security, who told organizers they could not enter hospital grounds and could be physically removed and arrested for trespassing.

Wilder said volunteers then set up the overdose prevention site across the street from the hospital.

Dr. Island Health Chief Medical Health Officer Réka Gustafson said in a statement Monday that the health authority is “focused on improving care and connecting people to health services wherever they are, especially in light of the ongoing crisis around toxic drugs. .”

“Ensuring the safety of our staff, medical staff, patients, volunteers and visitors is of the utmost importance. Operating an unapproved clinical service or demonstration on Island Health property cannot be supported, the statement said. “That is why our protective services teams worked respectfully with organizers to ensure that their planned activities did not take place on Island Health property.”

Wilder said the country is in the midst of the largest public health crisis it has ever seen, and that the BC government has had a ministerial order mandating that “overdose prevention sites can, should and should be established wherever they are needed. .”

Wilder said watching patients die needlessly has caused doctors a lot of “moral distress,” while expert voices like hers have been sidelined when politicians turn to addiction care with damaging stories.

She pointed out how a candidate in the recent provincial election posted a TikTok video opposing a harm reduction machine at a hospital, and it was deleted days later.

Premier David Eby ordered a review of the vending machine program in late August after BC Conservative candidate for the Nanaimo-Lantzville riding, Gwen O'Mahony, posted a video on social media highlighting her concerns about the vending machines.

The Ministry of Mental Health and Addictions told CBC News, ahead of its dissolution in Monday's new cabinet announcement, that while the review is underway, health authorities are “suspending harm reduction measures that do not provide an opportunity for a face-to-face connection with an individual.” . peer or health care professional who can provide a connection to the health care system.”

The provincial government said Monday that mental health and addiction-related matters will now fall under the Ministry of Health.

“We have been fighting for interventions like this, for something as simple as a machine that can give someone a condom or a clean needle if they are going to do something harmful,” Wilder said.

“That's what we've been fighting for for years, and the fact that someone who has no medical expertise can post a video on social media and it can have a bigger impact on the services I can provide to my patients than anything else.” what I've been doing for years is pretty devastating.”

Dr. Ryan Herriot, who has a family and addictions medicine practice in Victoria, said they set up the sites on the day welfare recipients receive their checks – which he described as “the deadliest day every month” for drug users.

He said dissatisfaction among people in his field is “slowly percolating.”

“It was decided that we need to make our voices heard in the public sphere,” Herriot said. “I think what's happened in recent years is that experts have been reluctant to speak out, to kind of step out of their clinical role, and that has unfortunately allowed non-experts to fill that void.” fill.”

In an email to CBC News on Monday, the Ministry of Health said many large hospital locations, including several locations in Island Health, have addiction medicine and substance use teams that work closely with patients to develop customized care plans “that ensure the safety of staff and other patients and in line with provincial policy.”

The minister did not comment on the 'pop-up' sites for overdose prevention.