A CLOSER LOOK
/NEW MOBILE OVERDOSE PREVENTION SITE ON THURLOW
Community leader claims move made in “secrecy”
by John Streit
(click images to enlarge)
MOBILE OPS UNIT OPERATING ON THURLOW STREET.
Back in 2020, “A Closer Look” examined some of the issues related to an Overdose Prevention Site (OPS) which had been open for a year in a trailer in the parking lot outside St. Paul’s Hospital at Thurlow and Comox. Many West Enders reached out to us believing the OPS was contributing to an increase in neighbourhood disorder and a rise in crime. On West End Facebook groups, residents were actively urging each other to be careful when walking home at night, watch for needles near the dog park and elementary school at Nelson Park, and never lock a bike outside.
At the time, Vancouver Police told the TWEJ that calls for service in the area of Comox and Thurlow (which includes St. Paul’s Hospital) increased from 612 in 2018 to 1,530 in 2019. Crime stat analysts said most of the calls were for disturbances and suspicious persons.
We spoke about the OPS with John Bishop who was at the time a volunteer at St. Paul’s, formerly with the B.C. Persons with AIDS Society and lived across the street from the Overdose Prevention Site. “We watched people we had never seen in our neighbourhood before congregating on the steps of the old Nurses Building, inject out in the open, lean against our building huddled over their fix. Drug paraphernalia began to litter the street. Then the verbal assaults and physical threats began, targeting our friends coming to visit, residents trying to get home, trying to get in the door before being attacked.”
2020 PHOTO OF THE TRIBUTE TO OPS VOLUNTEER THOMUS DONAGHY ON ST. PAUL’S OPS TRAILER.
Tragically on July 27, 2020, Thomus Donaghy, a Vancouver Overdose Prevention Society peer support worker, was killed in a stabbing outside the St. Paul’s Hospital OPS while on break from his shift. Just 20 minutes earlier, he had saved a life at the trailer.
Eventually, the West End OPS trailer was closed and reopened at a couple of other locations in Vancouver’s downtown core – the last being The Thomus Donaghy Overdose Prevention Site at 1060 Howe Street. It closed at the end of January at the direction and discretion of the site’s owner, according to Vancouver Coastal Health.
West Enders have since discovered a temporary Overdose Prevention Unit on wheels (a state of the art customized 24-foot Sprinter van) has arrived back outside St. Paul’s Hospital near the site of the trailer where Donaghy was killed. Vancouver Coastal Health confirmed the news to TWEJ. “While VCH identifies a new, permanent location for this OPS, the Mobile Overdose Prevention Site has been temporarily deployed in the area to provide witnessed injection support to reduce the risk of death for clients. Yes, this is a temporary replacement for the Howe Street location which closed January 31.”
INTERIOR OF A MOBILE OVERDOSE PREVENTION UNIT VAN (VCH PHOTO)
Quentin Wright is the executive director of the Mole Hill Community Housing Society and was shocked to see the white OPS van pop-up in the neighbourhood. “It is a symbol of the redundant, performative approach that Vancouver has taken to the overdose deaths, and to other serious problems facing the city. Just pointless. The van provides no harm reduction services other than a supervised injection space. This is only a marginally required service, since the number of people injecting drugs is currently extremely low. Even if someone needed this service, they have to access it totally publicly from the sidewalk. And crucially, it is superfluous at this location, since the van is situated only a few feet from both the Dr. Peter Centre and St Paul's Hospital. These places already offer managed injection spaces alongside comprehensive harm reduction services and resources, such as counselling, clinical supports, access to recovery services, peer support, and at St Paul's, an inhalation space. These are the services which would actually address the overdose crisis if they were more broadly available,” he says.
Vancouver Coast Health says the mobile unit is back in the West End for good reason. “The location was selected because it is close to the Howe Street location, which received 400-500 visits per week. This area of Vancouver has the second highest rate of toxic drug death in the region, and this is the only OPS open to the public in this neighbourhood, therefore it was important for the services to remain available for clients.”
Wright says it’s disappointing that the Mole Hill Community Housing Society and other community groups were not consulted. “I heard about it informally through the grapevine - a person I know at St Paul's let me know it was happening. I contacted City Council and our MLA, but they had not heard about it and had no information. There are at least a dozen non-profits within a hundred metres of this location - daycares, a group home, our housing society, the farmers market, the school and so on. I believe the only organizations who were advised were the Dr Peter Centre and St Paul's,” he says.
Vancouver Coastal Health maintains there were consultations and the Mobile Overdose Prevention Site achieves OPS Minimum Service Standards (a provincewide framework for how overdose prevention services should be delivered) as introduced by the BC Ministry of Health in 2025. “In Vancouver, this requirement is met through Neighbourhood Liaison Tables (NLTs) established and led by the City of Vancouver. These NLTs meet regularly and include community partners (Business Improvement Associations, residents' associations) and government organizations (e.g. City of Vancouver, Vancouver Police, Vancouver Coastal Health, Vancouver Fire Dept, BC Housing). In the case of the temporary location of the Thomus Donaghy OPS, the site location was designated by the City of Vancouver. Neighbourhood Liaison Table members and the local BIA were advised in advance of the location of the temporary site. The Neighbourhood Liaison Table is the place where any community concerns regarding the operation of the OPS can be raised,” according to VCH.
WEST END BIA EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR TERI SMITH .
Teri Smith, executive director of the West End Business Improvement Association confirms hers and other downtown BIA’s were advised by Vancouver Coastal Health that overdose prevention services needed to continue until a new permanent location was found. “We were also notified that the Mobile OPS would be temporarily deployed very soon in a location that was proximal to other services, including St. Paul’s. They also invited us to meet to discuss options and strategies to ensure any future site includes our considerations and perspectives. This meeting took place on February 9 and at that time the information about the location of the temporary Mobile OPS was shared,” she says.
Smith tells the TWEJ she then had a follow-up conversation with VCH the next day expressing some of her concerns about the proximity to Nelson Park, Lord Roberts Annex (temporarily renamed Coal Harbour School) and Mole Hill Daycare. “I shared my observations that the Davie Village area had seen an influx of folks into the neighbourhood following the concentrated efforts in the DTES, including an increase in overdose related incidents that our security was reporting and intervening on. I did note that an injection site did not address the increasing trend of inhalation of drugs, but was informed that it would require a different set up for the OPS with a tent structure adjacent to the van,” she says. Smith was also told the Mobile OPS was temporary and would likely be there for weeks, not months while the search continued for a permanent location outside our neighbourhood. “I did receive a call from Spencer’s office after the Mobile OPS had been deployed to ensure I was aware of it as they had just heard about it. Because of my involvement with the Neighbourhood Liaison Table, I was aware of it before Spencer’s office,” she adds.
ORIGINAL 2019 OPS AT ST. PAUL’S HOSPITAL (QUENTIN WRIGHT PHOTO)
Wright believes steps were missed in the establishment of the mobile OPS in the West End. “Vancouver Coastal Health overlooked the standards of care pertaining to opening a new OPS, recently published by the BC Government which require a community plan prior to opening. It is possible that the Standard of Care were ignored due to some loophole, such as this does not meet the definition of "new" services." Even so, they appear to be acting in bad faith, to plan and open an OPS in almost total secrecy - from neighbours, City council, the local MLA and the media,” he says.
Wright explains the impact on Mole Hill the last time an OPS was at the location.
“The previous OPS took different forms and slightly different locations. Originally it was a kind of caged tent located in a private parking area at St Paul's. The location was private, which was good for clients and the neighbourhood. But the tent was subject to break-ins, vandalism and at least one fire. There were occasions when our staff had to clean up medical supplies or boxes of used needles which had been liberated from the OPS, sorted through in our alley and usually scattered around our Community Gardens.
HUNDREDS OF NEEDLES DUMPED IN MOLE HILL COMMUNITY GARDEN IN 2019 (QUENTIN WRIGHT PHOTO)
Later, it was a trailer in the parking lot outside St Paul's. Being so public, there was a fairly continuous public disorder issue when the OPS was closed at night. There were some fights and minor police incidents. Our tenants are seniors, families and people with disabilities and witnessing these incidents was very disturbing to many of them. Our group was in the process of reaching out to our MLA Spencer Chandra Herbert and to Rain City (who were managing it), when the worker was tragically killed, which brought the whole thing to an end,” Wright tells TWEJ.
John Clerides is the owner of Marquis Wine Cellars on Davie near Thurlow, less than two blocks from the mobile OPS. He’s been an outspoken critic of government policy towards drug use and treatment along with street disorder response after his business suffered a costly break and enter in 2021 where an e-bike was stolen through a smashed front window. “Vancouver Coastal Health seems to operate on their own agenda, disregarding the community and public safety. This will attract more dealers,” he says. “From my point of view, it’s just another reason why people don’t come downtown or open a business.”
DRUG USE AND STREET DISORDER IN DAVIE VILLAGE . JOHN CLERIDES PHOTOS)
Clerides shared some photos with TWEJ showing the street disorder around his wine store in Davie Village. “I have two ladies who work for me and they are terrified.”
In case you were wondering, the mobile OPS is not associated with the Overdose Prevention Site on the fourth floor of St. Paul’s Hospital. That one in the outdoor garden area near the cafeteria is operated by Providence Health Care. According to PHC, “it provides a non-judgmental and safe place for patients to use non-prescription (illicit) substances, offering both injection booths and a dedicated space for inhalation. It is accessible to all St. Paul’s Hospital patients. In addition to overdose management and monitoring, the OPS offers a variety of harm reduction services.” Providence Health Care says over the last three years, more than 95 percent of overdoses have been “managed within the OPS without requiring a code blue (medical emergency) response.” People can also have their drugs tested on site.
Vancouver Coastal Health says the Vancouver City Centre Local Health Area records the second highest rate of overdose deaths in the VCH region, and the second highest number of calls to B.C. Emergency Health Services after the Downtown Eastside. In 2025, BCEHS responded to almost ten thousand drug overdoses in Vancouver. According to the BC Coroners Service, 1,826 people died from toxic drugs in B.C., the lowest amount since 2020. Most of the victims were men using fentanyl who died indoors. The province recently announced it is expanding access to nasal naloxone, which temporarily reverses an opioid overdose.
VCH is currently searching for a new permanent location for an Overdose Prevention Site in downtown Vancouver.
Teri Smith says the West End BIA is monitoring the situation outside St Paul’s Hospital. “My team and I do walk by and make note of any issues and share them with VCH. I have a very good relationship with the Director of Substance Use and Harm Reduction at VCH and she is open to hearing concerns and following up on them to ensure they are mitigated.”
RELATED LINK: St. Paul’s Hospital Overdose Prevention Site / TWEJ / Oct. 2020.
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West Ender John Streit has been a B.C. radio, TV and online journalist
for more than 25 years. You can listen to John anchor
Global News weekday mornings on 730 CKNW Radio in Vancouver.
