Two more hours mean the world to the Coalition of Substance Users of the North (CSUN), which has increased their hours of operation this winter.
“We never know what is coming through the door,” said Dawn Harding.
As the temperatures dipped on Sunday, Nov. 28, the team rushed to help a man peel out of his wet clothes and into warm ones.
The man had fallen into a creek, and Harding said they were thankful to have been open to be able to support him.
With the days getting shorter and colder, many on the streets come to CSUN for winter clothing, using their washroom to pull on layers upon layers to keep the night cold and death away.
Jenny McDougall said hypothermia is a real fear and had they would not have been open that Sunday night, the man would have likely remained outside in his wet clothing for hours.
She recalled how she knew of another man who she said was kicked out of the hospital with several broken bones and nowhere to go. It was minus 25 degrees Celsius when he was found semi-conscious at a bus stop by a bus driver who allowed him on to warm up.
“We need more help,” McDougall said.
Previously CSUN was only open for four hours on Monday, Wednesday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, but through additional funding will now be available for six hours on those days until March 2022.
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Harding described January and February as perhaps the coldest months in Quesnel, and said staff often take clients into their homes after closing hours to ensure they are kept safe from the harsh winter elements.
Some who come to CSUN to warm-up end up sleeping on their couches, exhausted from staying awake and walking to stave off the cold.
“The population of people that come in are like a family,” Harding said, adding how many who are on the streets keep an eye out on one another.
Both Harding and McDougall agree not enough cold weather spaces are available in Quesnel and that change has been slow.
McDougall said she wants to work with Seasons House and advocate with BC Housing to provide more spaces, especially in winter.
“Even as far as tents go, we can’t even get people together,” she noted.
“We don’t have a place for them to go to provide them tents, so they’re not outside in public all the time and have a place to be semi-warm.”
Since 2018 CSUN has provided harm reduction and naloxone education, training and distribution.
In addition, CSUN offers training, capacity building and research opportunities for honorarium paid roles to people with lived and living experience.
CSUN also provides peer-to-peer support as well as a safer supply peer advocacy program that supports people accessing opioid agonist therapy and safer supply of prescription alternatives to the current toxic supply.
Furthermore, they provide food, hygiene and donated clothing programs that are based on funding accessibility.
”We provide a safe space that is culturally safe with minimal barriers to access services,” the peer-based organization continued.
“It is a place by us for us to build camaraderie and be involved in calls to action to address issues that impact people who use drugs.”
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