Operations at SafePoint to pause starting Jan. 1

The doors at the SafePoint consumption and treatment site in Windsor are still set to close as of Jan. 1, 2024. 

Windsor Essex County Health Unit (WECHU) confirmed the plans in an emailed statement to AM800 news.

"Operations at SafePoint will pause starting January 1, 2024," a representative for WECHU said. 

"Our next usage update will occur in January to capture the stats for the full month of December. This will be part of the January Board of Health report."

On Nov. 20, the WECHU board of directors voted to pause operations at SafePoint as of the end of 2023 due to a lack of funding.

The decision came after the province announced in early October that the government was pausing approval of new supervised consumption and treatment sites due to an ongoing review.

The health unit had been funding the site while waiting for provincial approval, money that was set aside as part of the application process.

Between April 2023 until the end of October, SafePoint recorded 859 client visits with 182 unique clients accessing the services provided at the site during that six-month period.

In October 2023 alone, SafePoint recorded 258 client visits compared to 183 client visits in September.

-With files from AM800's Rusty Thomson