A new report finds that the regions of Guelph, Wellington County and Dufferin County have the lowest number of opioid-related deaths in Ontario.
The report released by Public Health Ontario shows there were 23 deaths from opioid use in Wellington-Dufferin-Guelph, compared to 39 in 2021, 25 in 2020 and 35 in 2019.
The number of opioid-related deaths in the first six months of 2022 ranks Wellington-Dufferin-Guelph 27th out of 34 public health units in Ontario.
Adrienne Crowder, manager of the Wellington-Guelph Drug Strategy, believes a range of support services being established in Guelph may have contributed to the low death rate.
“The Guelph Community Heath Centre, Stonehenge, Arch, Sanguine – they’re out of the gate very quickly,” Crowder said. “Applying for those services and embedding them in our community is faster than is the case for many of our neighboring communities.”
Wellington-Dufferin-Guelph has 2.2 opioid-related deaths per 100,000 residents during the first six months of 2022.
Crowder says that despite the low numbers, it remains a major problem for a city like Guelph.
“Twenty-three deaths in the first half of the year is still too many,” Crowder said. “The lack of action to address this problem is part of what we need to be doing differently. It needs to be put into mainstream health care.”
Coroner’s data shows Ontario opioid death rate to decline in 2022
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There were 1,278 opioid-related deaths during the first six months of this year, down from 1,487 during the first half of 2021, the report said.
“This is a significant tragedy that is ongoing and continues to require, in my mind, a very deep, comprehensive response,” Chief Coroner Dr. Dirk Heuer said in an interview with The Canadian Press.
Another factor to consider is COVID-19 Epidemic. The number of opioid overdose deaths in 2022 is expected to increase by 55 percent compared to 2019.
“The rate of fatal drug poisoning has increased significantly, as has the rate of hospitalization in that time,” Crowder said. “The pandemic became a compounding issue for people who use substances and the situation they were facing certainly got worse.”
Parts of northern Ontario saw the highest rate of opioid-related deaths with Thunder Bay at 42. There were 29 in Greater Sudbury and 28 in Timmins.
With files from The Canadian Press
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