Challenging the stigma around naloxone

Since starting her role in May 2018, Vanjoff has trained hundreds of people and handed out thousands of naloxone kits.

“From when I started to now, more people are reaching out to learn about naloxone training and learn more about the opioid crisis. I just hope this momentum keeps going forward,” she said.

From her pocket, Vanjoff pulls out three white, folded pieces of paper. Each has a hand-written note, all of which are examples of the messages she and her team receive from training sessions.

On one piece of paper, a note reads:

“I am a mama bear to a beautiful young woman who decided to have fun 1 night. Wrong place, wrong time, wrong choice. She didn’t want to die, she wanted babies and to be married. Love you Sammy B.”

Vanjoff folds the paper and puts it back into her pocket.

“I think the biggest message that I would like the community to know is that discrimination could quite possibly lead to more use, not to people quitting. We can prevent overdoses and overdose deaths by challenging the stigma around people who use substances. Kindness and understanding can go a long way.”

Three months sober, James now occasionally works with Vanjoff at festivals and events helping train people in the Greater Vernon community on how to use naloxone.

“It feels great,” James said about teaching naloxone training. “The thank-you’s, the appreciation, the notes that people leave behind, it’s quite overwhelming. It pushes me to do more.”

Harm reduction techniques, like naloxone, have helped to reduce the number of opioid-related overdose deaths in B.C.

A recent study released by the BC Centre for Disease Control states during a 20-month-period between 2016 and 2017, harm reduction techniques helped prevent more than 3,000 deaths in the province.

Still, for front-line workers like Vanjoff and people with lived experience like James, stigma is one of the biggest barriers to overcome as a society if we are going to find a solution to the opioid crisis.

“I was there with these people. I have been around when people have died and I have been around when people have been saved by naloxone,” James said. “We have to get this epidemic under control. We don’t need to lose any more people. I didn’t know that this was going to be my path. I didn’t know this is where I was going to be today. I didn’t know there were going to be opportunities. I never knew what I wanted to do, now I do and it is helping people; to keep people alive, and if I wasn’t given naloxone, I wouldn’t be here.”

*Naloxone training is free. To book a training session for yourself or your organization or business email: Holly.Vanjoff@interiorhealth.ca

*For more information on naloxone, naloxone training or where to find naloxone kits, visit https://towardtheheart.com/