YWCA safe drug use space downtown Hamilton a ‘safe place for folks to come’

Nearly every day, workers at Carole Anne's Place in downtown Hamilton were finding themselves responding to overdoses just outside their building.

Medora Uppal, director of operations for YWCA Hamilton, said staff were giving naloxone to folks near Whitehern House and just outside of MacNab Street Presbyterian Church - all while supporting their own clients with complex needs.

Uppal said employees were left traumatized and exhausted" by the balancing act, all while too many" women, trans and nonbinary people known to the drop-in centre had died of overdoses in the streets.

So, instead of accepting the situation as an inevitable consequence of homelessness," the organization decided to act, she added.

We have a drug-poisoning crisis happening in this city," said Uppal. So, we knew we needed some kind of intervention that would be quick and life-saving."

On April 23, the YWCA opened their Safer Drug Use Space inside of their MacNab Street South site in partnership with Keeping Six and the Hamilton Social Medicine Response Team (HamSMaRT).

Operating as a temporary urgent public health needs site, which are authorized by Health Canada, the space will remain open until at least the end of November.

The space is funded by the Hamilton Community Foundation and Women 4 Change, and is only the second gender-specific space of its kind in all of Canada.

How does the program work?

Inside the space, the walls are lined with colourful drawings created by patrons and messages of affirmation are sprinkled throughout. There are two spots dedicated for consumption and a trio of loungers meant for clients to relax in afterwards.

Shelves and storage cupboards are filled with everything the program needs to help patrons use drugs safely - including syringes, alcohol wipes, naloxone as well as safer smoking kits, snacks and water.

The space operates every night from 10 p.m. to 9 a.m. and serves those that are staying in the overnight drop-in centre or residing in the transitional living program at the centre.

During that time, patrons are able to bring their own drugs into the space and are supervised for 20 minutes after using by both a harm-reduction worker and a peer worker from Keeping Six.

Set up to feel like a living room, program co-ordinator Mary Vaccaro said the hope is that patrons will feel comfortable enough to use slower and stay longer."

As of June 24, at least 83 different people had visited the space, according to the organization.

It's been really transformative," said Vaccaro. We're really able to support people in a different way."

Staff are not directly facilitating consumption, noted Uppal, but are instead keeping a watchful eye on patrons, while also providing them with information and harm-reduction supplies.

Vaccaro said in the span of just two months, workers have overseen 566 supervised injections and have successfully reversed six overdoses - four with oxygen and two with naloxone. Staff have never had to call for an ambulance or Hamilton police.

A safe place'

Before the space opened at the centre, patrons who used drugs would either have to conceal their substance use or venture outside to consume their drugs in the street.

Vaccaro said that with that barrier removed, they've has been able to serve folks who've traditionally been excluded from shelters" and fend off unaccompanied overdoses from happening just steps away from the building.

Uppal said the program has transformed into a measure to help prevent forms of gender-based violence - including sexual assault - which unhoused folks can experience while using drugs on their own.

It's becoming a safe place for folks to come," said Vaccaro. It's been really good."

And it's helping patrons form relationships and build trust with staff at the drop-in centre - something Vaccaro attributes to the presence and efforts of their peer workers.

Marcie McIlveen, peer worker co-ordinator at HamSMaRT, said, as someone who used substances at a time where similar centres didn't exist, seeing this space open and being a part of it has been and continues to be an amazing experience."

Danielle Deloitinville, with Keeping Six, said that being able to watch the space grow and build relationships with other (folks) from all walks of life - in a space where everybody feels safe - is such a privilege."

Uppal said with the space set to operate for the next five months, the YWCA is hopeful that other organizations will see the value in their model and feel more comfortable" pursuing their own.

This can be replicated anywhere," added Vaccaro. This was our storage room beforehand."

Dr. Claire Bodkin, of HamSMaRT, said the spaces are an important part of reducing drug-poisoning deaths and connecting people to other health and harm-reduction services."

HamSMaRT will also be incorporating a safer supply clinic for unhoused women and gender diverse people into the space.

Fallon Hewitt is a reporter at The Spectator. fhewitt@thespec.com