Officials ‘hopeful’ London’s permanent supervised drinking site will open by the end of the year – London | Globalnews.ca

If all goes according to plan, the first permanent supervised consumption site in London, Ontario, will be up and running before the end of the year.

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Meanwhile, the temporary version of the site, Carepoint Consumer and Treatment Service, has moved from its location at 186 King St. and relocated to a trailer at 446 York St., the home of the next permanent element.

The site works by offering people a place to use drugs safely and seek recovery services.

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The trailer is being used as a stopgap solution while the Regional HIV/AIDS Connection (RHAC), the organization that runs Carepoint, waits for construction to finish on the permanent site.

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“We’re hoping it happens sooner rather than later, we don’t want to put a date on it because you never know with supply chain issues, during COVID things get harder to come by, but we’re doing really well,” he said. Megan. Van Boheemen, Harm Reduction Services Manager at Carepoint.

“By the end of the year is what we expect.”

The trailer is used temporarily to run the Carepoint program while RHAC awaits the completion of construction on the permanent site.

Andrew Graham / Global News

Between April 1, 2020 and March 31, 2021, Carepoint received nearly 17,500 visits to its former location on King Street. Those visits resulted in the reversal of 171 overdoses and the referral of 2,941 clients to community supports.

Van Boheemen says there has been a noticeable drop in visits since Carepoint moved to 446 York St., but adds that teams have been working to get the word out about the move.

“We anticipate that once word gets out and we have people find us and figure out how to access us, our numbers will increase again,” he added.

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Back at 186 King St., a security guard has been stationed at the old site to offer naloxone to those in need.

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The relocation has also led to RHAC’s Counterpoint needle and syringe program now operating from the Middlesex-London Health Unit office in Citi Plaza, however that program and Carepoint will be under one roof once the site is closed. permanent is in operation.

“Actually, we’re very hopeful that people will get used to coming to see us in this space … because when our permanent site opens, we hope that the transition will be more seamless,” added Van Boheemen.

“Hopefully, we won’t be in the trailer for more than a year.”

Carepoint first opened temporarily in 2018, and city councilors approved a rezoning request for 446 York St. later that year; the address formerly housed John Bellone’s musical instruments.

The site then received provincial approval, the final approval needed, in 2020.


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