Fixerum i Canada

Fixerum i Canada

http://www.vch.ca/sis/videos/sis-video.wmv

View our video (17.0 MB) on how Insite will operate and how it will serve the Downtown East Side.

Clients who enter the SIS are assessed and led through a waiting area to a 12-seat injection room where they can inject their own drugs under the supervision of trained medical staff. They will have access to clean injection equipment including spoons, tourniquets and water, aimed at reducing the spread of infectious diseases.

After injecting, they move to a post-injection room where, if appropriate, staff can connect clients with other on-site services. These include primary care for the treatment of wounds, abscesses and other infections; addiction counseling and peer support; and referral to treatment services such as withdrawal management, opiate replacement therapy and other services.

Along with the on-site coordinator, two registered nurses are present at all times with an addiction counselor and physician support available on-call. Program assistants from our partner, the PHS Community Services Society, help greet and register people, as well as provide peer contact to encourage safe injection practices and orientate drug users to use the site.

The SIS can accommodate up to several hundred injections each day as part of the scientific research pilot project, although the experience at similar sites in Australia and Europe suggest the user community will take a while to accept the concept of a legal injection facility site. Utilization statistics are available on-line.

For more information, read the Media Release and Frequently Asked Questions.