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HomeNewsPrince George paramedics respond to record-high 1,466 drug overdose calls in 2022

Prince George paramedics respond to record-high 1,466 drug overdose calls in 2022

Prince George paramedics saw a 12% year-over-year spike in drug overdose and poisoning calls.

According to data released by BC Emergency Health Services, local medics responded to these calls 1,466 times last year – they only went 1,307 in 2021.

In addition, the northern capital had the sixth-highest call volume among BC cities trailing Vancouver (7,827), Surrey (2,864), Victoria (2,037), Kelowna (1,824), and Abbotsford (1,641).

Like some cities in BC, overdose and drug poisoning calls have seen a steady climb since a public health emergency was called by the provincial government in 2016.

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The yearly breakdown for PG looks like this:

  • 2016 – 362
  • 2017 – 461
  • 2018 – 594
  • 2019 – 626
  • 2020 – 999
  • 2021 – 1,307
  • 2022 – 1,466

Furthermore, Northern Health saw a 17% spike in overdose calls in 2022 – the largest year-over-year increase among all the health authorities in BC.

The next closest was Interior Health with a 9% increase.

Similar to Prince George, Northern Health has seen an even sharper trajectory in the volume of overdose events attended.

  • 2016 – 913
  • 2017- 1,085
  • 2018 – 1,232
  • 2019 – 1,332
  • 2020 – 2,077
  • 2021 – 2,414
  • 2022 – 2,838

Province-wide, paramedics responded to 33,654 overdose events last year – that equates to an average of 92 calls per day.

The average monthly calls are over 2,800 per month.

On January 19th, 2022, BC set a new daily record for receiving 203 overdose/poisoning calls.

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