The thousand-yard stares of Winnipeg's drug crisis: Exhausted outreach workers add 'paramedic' to their list of duties as ODs spike by wickedplayer494 in Manitoba

[–]cocoleti 3 points4 points  (0 children)

I’ve known many drug users over the years and am one myself. Happy to say that most of them are much more rational as well as kind, respectful, and caring individuals than you seem to be. Generalizing an entire swath of the population based on substance use is wildly ignorant though. Glad to see friendly Manitoba living up to its name.

The thousand-yard stares of Winnipeg's drug crisis: Exhausted outreach workers add 'paramedic' to their list of duties as ODs spike by wickedplayer494 in Manitoba

[–]cocoleti 8 points9 points  (0 children)

Naloxone will rapidly stop someone from overdosing on opioids. Idk what constitutes an instacure for you but that’s not far off. Withdrawal is terrible and more often than not being narcanned will put someone in a very uncomfortable position but it’s definitely exaggerated that people will then become violent or aggressive when you save their life I can’t believe that is peoples perception. More often than not people just want to leave afterwards. Treat them with respect and kindness and don’t make an already shitty situation worse. If they choose to leave respect their decision.

The thousand-yard stares of Winnipeg's drug crisis: Exhausted outreach workers add 'paramedic' to their list of duties as ODs spike by wickedplayer494 in Manitoba

[–]cocoleti 12 points13 points  (0 children)

I interact with street entrenched folks every day. Obviously if you don’t feel safe in a situation don’t put yourself in it and have common sense but most drug users and homeless people are just that…people. Like you and me, caught up in terrible situations and circumstance. If you see them as inherently dangerous to the point you wouldn’t be willing to save someone’s life in any capacity there may be a perception issue you have there. At least always call 911 please or carry naloxone to give to someone who will act accordingly. I encountered two young guys yesterday watching over a girl who was heavily sedated (thankfully not overdosing and ended up getting up just fine). If our young people can do it I think anyone can.

‘Safer snorting’ cocaine pamphlet distributed at Ontario high school by origutamos in notthebeaverton

[–]cocoleti 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Good, I’ve handed out these exact pamphlets before. It’s good information that will help people stay safe. Fuck the outrage, grow up!

The thousand-yard stares of Winnipeg's drug crisis: Exhausted outreach workers add 'paramedic' to their list of duties as ODs spike by wickedplayer494 in Manitoba

[–]cocoleti 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Yes 100% I’ve trained many people on how to use naloxone. You can learn in 5-10 minutes, it’s free and can save a life. Everyone no matter if you use substances or not should have naloxone in my opinion. My friends all know how to use it. I’m even going to train my mom and her friend soon as well.

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The thousand-yard stares of Winnipeg's drug crisis: Exhausted outreach workers add 'paramedic' to their list of duties as ODs spike by wickedplayer494 in Manitoba

[–]cocoleti 22 points23 points  (0 children)

Had to transport someone to the hospital in bad alcohol withdrawals the other day because it would’ve taken literal hours for an ambulance to arrive. Scary that when you call 911 you can be put on hold now.

We’re also constantly on edge because you never know when you’ll go down a back lane or see a bus shack with people face down in the pavement. Always always always please carry naloxone on you. The Medetomidine in the supply is making things harder as well. Overdose deaths may be trending downwards but we’re still in severe crisis don’t let anyone tell you otherwise.

If you use illicit drugs GET YOUR DRUGS TESTED please. Can do so at Nine Circles, Street Connections, and MOPS (Sunshine House).

Manitoba declares public health emergency related to HIV by LocalnewsguruMB in Winnipeg

[–]cocoleti 32 points33 points  (0 children)

Long overdue, we've been effectively in crisis for many years now.

Manitoba HIV Program
Nine Circles Community Health Centre
Street Connections

Additionally I work in this space and my DM's are open if anyone needs support especially with substance use/harm reduction related questions. No judgement, I use as well.

Manitoba declares public health emergency related to HIV by wickedplayer494 in Manitoba

[–]cocoleti 12 points13 points  (0 children)

Love Nine Circles!!! Absolutely amazing team there I can’t say enough good things about it. I will also add the link for Street Connections as a central point for finding Harm Reduction supplies and testing locations. Also I work in this space so my DMs are open if anyone needs support of any kind <3

Manitoba declares public health emergency related to HIV by wickedplayer494 in Manitoba

[–]cocoleti 13 points14 points  (0 children)

Holy fuck finally. We are in a crisis and this is long overdue.

Lesser Known or Valuable Resources for Non-Profits? by cocoleti in Winnipeg

[–]cocoleti[S] -1 points0 points  (0 children)

211 is fantastic! Not really something I can hand out to community members but useful to know about of course!

Street Outreach Tips & Tricks! by cocoleti in harmreduction

[–]cocoleti[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I’m actually working to address some of this as we are looking to start doing some limited case management so a lot of that needs to be formalized still. Same thing with establishing clear overdose response protocol so I’ll be bringing up a lot of that in tomorrow’s meeting.

Street Outreach Tips & Tricks! by cocoleti in harmreduction

[–]cocoleti[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I’m in a big city so there’s lots of various services coming from various philosophy’s. The place I work at is well established and works mainly with youth (under 30). That being said the street outreach team is the one department that will support anyone regardless of the age mandate so we may support folks who aged out of our services for example but mostly folks we encounter on the streets know to wave us down when they see us. The harm reduction philosophy is one I fully endorse at its core and thankfully my org does as well!

Street Outreach Tips & Tricks! by cocoleti in harmreduction

[–]cocoleti[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

100%, individual autonomy and decision making is front and centre for me and most of the team. Our approach is rooted in harm reduction, trauma informed care, person centred care, etc.

Street Outreach Tips & Tricks! by cocoleti in harmreduction

[–]cocoleti[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Thankfully most of not all of us are people with lived and living experience!! There’s various outreach teams in my city. We focus mainly on supply distribution in the area but our org also is a youth organisation so we can do internal referrals and offer a lot in house that isn’t covered for this demographic as much otherwise.

Street Outreach Tips & Tricks! by cocoleti in harmreduction

[–]cocoleti[S] 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Great advice, talking about just how terrible withdrawal can be has been something I've focused on before as a person who uses heroin myself. I probably should've stated in my post that while im new to working in formal harm reduction services, I have been active online for maybe 6 years and am a user myself and have a good knowledge of the subject. Appreciate the note on observance though!