The manager of a Happy Valley-Goose Bay hotel that serves as a homeless shelter rang the alarm after seeing residents taken to hospital for drinking hand sanitizer.
Bill Dormody says he has called paramedics more than a dozen times in the past few weeks after finding residents were inconsistent, unresponsive, coughing up blood and sometimes with blood coming from their ears and eyes.
“I’m afraid someone will die,” Dormody told CBC News.
The high-alcohol hand sanitizer became more readily available during the COVID-19 pandemic and is much cheaper than alcohol.
This is the latest concern in a long series of problems plaguing the homeless community in Happy Valley-Goose Bay.
Health Canada has warned that even small amounts of hand sanitizer can be dangerous or fatal.
Dormodi said he constantly found bottles of water mixed with disinfectant. Even drinks like pop and Purity syrup have been used to mix with the disinfectant.
“It’s actually quite horrifying. I find that they go from a completely normal state to a state of unresponsiveness, very, very limited motor skills, imitating that they are under the influence of ordinary alcohol, but different,” Dormodi said.
“They move from completely coherent to inconsistent immediately.”
Dormodi said hotel staff had had to call police more than two dozen times in the past two weeks.
The RCMP told CBC News that it had seen an increase in calls to the Labrador Inn, although police did not disclose numbers related to possible alcohol or disinfectant poisoning.
According to police, there have been 58 calls to the inn so far this month, including reports of assaults, riots, property damage and sexual assault.
Empty hand sanitizer bottles were collected around the Labrador Inn after residents drank diluted bottles of the high-alcohol liquid. (Submitted by Bill Dormody)
The misuse of hand sanitizer is not just a problem at the Labrador Inn.
Jeff Matthews, coordinator of the city’s homeless shelter and housing liaison, said he had begun noticing that the product had disappeared a few months ago.
“We kind of started wondering, do you know if it’s possible for customers to swallow it?” And unfortunately, a few customers actually told us that when they hung out with some of the others, some of them swallowed the disinfectant, ”Matthews said.
Matthews said everyone at the Housing Hub was concerned about the potential consequences.
Some brands of hand sanitizers contain ethanol and methanol, which can blind and damage his organs.
The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued an official warning in August 2020 about the dangers of drinking hand sanitizer after four people died and dozens became seriously ill.
“The struggle we are facing is trying to find out if the client is intoxicated only by what we would call ordinary alcohol, or if it is actually a disinfectant,” Matthews said.
“Sometimes I guess you may be a little ashamed to admit that you may have drunk it.”
The Housing Hub has removed the disinfectant from the entrance and put up signs in the shelter warning of the risks.
A meeting with Labrador-Grenfell Health is scheduled, he said.
An indicator of a bigger problem
Both Matthews and Dormody say the new phenomenon speaks to the severity of community addiction.
“Many of our clients here suffer from trauma problems, and their only way to deal with it is through alcohol or drugs,” Dormodi said.
In a statement, a spokesman for Labrador-Grenfell Health said the Department of Mental Health and Addictions works closely with clients and community stakeholders to educate them about substance abuse disorders.
Jeff Matthews is the coordinator and liaison of the Housing Hub, a homeless shelter run by the Nunaciatut government in Happy Valley-Goose Bay. (CBC)
“Focusing on harm reduction helps reduce the stigma surrounding substance abuse, helps people’s safety and helps create safe and supportive communities,” the health authority said.
Officials added that an information brochure had been developed by mental health and addiction teams “to raise awareness of risks, risk mitigation, warning signs and reactions in case of consumption of hazardous materials and poisoning”.
Dormody, meanwhile, said the Labrador Inn has never been busier, with more than 30 people staying at the hotel.
“I think more needs to be done. There must be awareness, and we must certainly be as diligent as we have been [will] keep doing it. “
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