Indigenous people are disproportionately impacted by the opioid crisis, overdosing and dying at much higher rates than non-First Nations people in British Columbia.

Speaking at a session during Gathering Wisdom IX, Dr. Shannon McDonald outlined the steps the FNHA is taking to address the ongoing challenges.

Dr. Shannon McDonald, acting Chief Medical Health Officer with the FNHA, started by sharing data collected by the BC Coroners Service and released in a FNHA report last year. It revealed that while First Nations account for just 3.4% of BC's population, they suffer 14% of overdose events and represent 10% of overdose deaths.

"Those are scary numbers, and it's not getting better. It's getting worse," she said.

Another alarming fact is that among First Nations, there is an almost equal number of overdoses and deaths among men and women. This is very different than non-First Nations, where men are much more likely to be impacted by overdoses.

"As Grand Chief Doug Kelly says, we have a pain problem, a trauma problem among our young women. We need to find ways to deal with that trauma," Dr. McDonald said.

The FNHA takes a harm reduction approach that aims to keep people safe when using substances, create an accessible range of treatment options and support people in their healing journeys.

"We have to keep people alive long enough to get them into treatment," she said.

The FNHA has developed a wide-ranging plan to tackle the opioid problem from a number of angles.

Among the steps outlined in the response plan:

• Expanding access to Naloxone kit distribution and training. Nasal-spray naloxone is now a non-insured health benefit but access is not yet wide-spread

• Expanding access to opioid agonist therapy like suboxone, which acts as a replacement for street drugs. A challenge is making this more accessible for those outside urban areas

• Intensive case management is being rolled out to offer better support for drug users

• Expanding clinical pharmacy services through telehealth

• Information campaigns that trigger conversations in the community and help model positive behaviour

• More peer engagement programs. One, called Unlocking the Gates, provides peer mentoring and support for those leaving incarceration, a particularly vulnerable time.

These are in addition to existing programs and services available to help people with their substance use issues and healing journeys. Dr. McDonald acknowledged there are still many challenges as we struggle to cope with this difficult issue but steps are being taken to address them.

She added that new overdose data is being collected and should be available for release later this year.