A group of regional health care providers are coming together to develop culturally-appropriate addictions supports for the Northwest.
Known as the Northwest Working Group, the alliance aims to address the disproportionate impacts of the toxic drug crisis on Indigenous residents.
It is made up of representatives from Northern Health, the First Nations Health Authority, Northern First Nations Alliance, and the province.
That includes members from the Gitanyow, Haisla, Kitkatla, Kitselas, Kitsumkalum, and Nisga’a Nations.
It will focus on Terrace and the surrounding area, which has one of the highest illicit overdose death rates at 98.7 per 100,000 residents this year.
On top of that, Indigenous people are more than 6 times as likely as non-Indigenous residents to die from illicit drug poisoning.
To stem that, the group will identify and implement ways to ensure addictions support services in the region are culturally-appropriate.
They will meet regularly to discuss challenges to ensure cultural supports are not an after thought, but rather the foundation of a strategy.
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