The number of fatal opioid related overdoses in Sarnia-Lambton, nearly doubled in 2020.
Lambton Public Health said there were 40 related deaths last year, up from 21 in 2019.
Mental Health and Addictions Program Coordinator Bethany Jennings said the increase is very concerning, and widespread.
"Ontario as a whole, there's definitely been an increase in the number of opioid related deaths," said Jennings. "In 2020 there were around 2,400 and in 2019 there were 1,500, so Ontario is also seeing definitely an increase, just like we are here in Lambton."'
Lambton EMS responded to 223 opioid overdose related calls in 2020, and by the end of April of this year, emergency responders had already been to 80 such incidents.
In the first four months 2021, there were 50 related emergency department visits.
Jennings said the COVID-19 pandemic may have played a part in higher overdose numbers.
"It's been such a tough year and a half, there's been such a big social impact and as a community it's really important that we remain compassionate and empathetic to one another," she said. "At LPH, we continue to offer our harm reduction services, we're distributing naloxone kits, we also have our mobile outreach team and there's other community supports as well, there's a 24/7 overdose prevention line."
In the meantime Jennings said work is continuing on the development of a Community Early Response system with first responders.
She said she's hopeful that as more things open up and more people get vaccinated for COVID, the opioid crisis may also improve.
"I'm optimistic that we will be able to have more capacity to shift our focus not only as an organization, but as a community to address this important work," she said.
