The Provincial government has appointed a chief scientific advisor for psychiatry, toxic drugs and concurrent disorders.
Dr. Daniel Vigo has assumed the position as of today (Wednesday), and will advise the government “with the goal of improving care for this group of patients.”
Vigo is a UBC and Harvard Medical School instructor and serves as a World Health Organization advisor.
In a provincial news conference this afternoon, Premier David Eby cited a study that found patients with overlapping addiction and mental health issues frequently require medical help and often add serious strain to the system.
Often, these mental health issues are caused or furthered by drug use and overdose survival.
The study said one patient from Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside went to the emergency room 180 times in 2023, four 140 or more times, and 612 10 or more times.
“There’s an extremely high prevalence of brain injury in overdose survivors. In fact, at its most severe, half survivors die in the immediate future and another third in the near future,” Vigo said. “For those who survive, the resulting clinical triad presents unique challenges in patient engagement and service provision, from prevention to tertiary care and secure community housing. My office’s mandate is to access all relevant data, develop centralized analysis and interpretation, and provide ongoing recommendations to improve and evaluate our health-system response.”
Vigo mentioned he will “focus all of my academic and clinical energy on this undertaking.”
“As the toxic-drug crisis changes, we’re facing new challenges and grappling with a growing group of people who are very sick and struggling in our streets and emergency rooms. The current situation is not working for these people and it’s not working for our communities,” said Eby. “We’re taking action, working with Dr. Vigo, to develop new tools to help this very specific group of people so that they get the help that they need, and our communities stay safe, healthy and welcoming for everyone.”
Eby said he hopes the province’s response to this part of the toxic drug crisis mirrors that of the wildfire response: “The work was done in real time with the public service in preparation for the wildfire season. We want results as quickly as possible.”
You can read more about today’s announcement here.
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