Sep 29, 2026 · 38 min · 13 segments
In the first episode of Season 7, host David P. Ball is joined by Dr. Alison Hamilton to highlight the work done by clinicians as part of the Provincial Opioid Treatment Access Line (POTAL) to…
So since 2016, more than 18,000 people have died in BC from the toxic drug supply, and rural and remote communities have been hit especially hard.
The data shows that there's a risk of fatal overdose about 30% higher outside of urban areas.
Opioid agonist therapy, or OAT, remains one of the most effective tools for managing opioid use disorder and reducing illicit use.
With the COVID-19 pandemic, there was a rapid shift towards use of virtual care solutions, which opened the door for new ways to deliver OAT.
Although it's a relatively new innovation in substance use care, it's already showing promising results in expanding access, especially for people in rural and remote regions.
On that note, I'd like to introduce Dr. Jessica Han, who's a physician lead at Lighthouse Virtual Substance Use Clinic, which is a free virtual clinic that uses telephone appointments to provide medical treatment and short-term stabilization for people using substances.
What's your role and where do you practice? And tell us a little bit about these services you provide.
So I am originally from St. John's, Newfoundland, but I have been living in Western Canada for the last 10 years.
I currently practice only about 50% of my clinical time in emergency medicine and the other 50% of the time I'm an addiction medicine specialist here in Vancouver, British Columbia.
I completed the BC Center on Substance Use Addiction Medicine Fellowship about six or seven years ago, and I'm currently the Providence Healthcare Lead for Virtual Substance Use Care.
That encompasses the Lighthouse Virtual Substance Use Clinic, which we'll talk about a little bit more today, as well as Access Central, which is the centralized intake for withdrawal management admissions in Vancouver Coastal Health, also known as DetoxBeds.
So since 2016, more than 18,000 people have died in BC from the toxic drug supply, and rural and remote communities have been hit especially hard.
The data shows that there's a risk of fatal overdose about 30% higher outside of urban areas.
Opioid agonist therapy, or OAT, remains one of the most effective tools for managing opioid use disorder and reducing illicit use.
With the COVID-19 pandemic, there was a rapid shift towards use of virtual care solutions, which opened the door for new ways to deliver OAT.
Although it's a relatively new innovation in substance use care, it's already showing promising results in expanding access, especially for people in rural and remote regions.
On that note, I'd like to introduce Dr. Jessica Han, who's a physician lead at Lighthouse Virtual Substance Use Clinic, which is a free virtual clinic that uses telephone appointments to provide medical treatment and short-term stabilization for people using substances.
What's your role and where do you practice? And tell us a little bit about these services you provide.
So I am originally from St. John's, Newfoundland, but I have been living in Western Canada for the last 10 years.
I currently practice only about 50% of my clinical time in emergency medicine and the other 50% of the time I'm an addiction medicine specialist here in Vancouver, British Columbia.
I completed the BC Center on Substance Use Addiction Medicine Fellowship about six or seven years ago, and I'm currently the Providence Healthcare Lead for Virtual Substance Use Care.
That encompasses the Lighthouse Virtual Substance Use Clinic, which we'll talk about a little bit more today, as well as Access Central, which is the centralized intake for withdrawal management admissions in Vancouver Coastal Health, also known as DetoxBeds.
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