Photo: Fraser Health
When family physician Aseem Grover started his first job in the small British Columbia city of Hope, he was shocked that his patients found it "easier to get high than get help." It was a public health emergency, involving fatal overdoses by drugs. So he set out to provide services that could help substance users. He handed out naloxone door-to-door to users and dealers, and rented a school bus to help bring patients to a drug treatment clinic in Chilliwack until 2018. These days, about 200 people come each month to get help at the Fraser Canyon Clinic in Hope. Grover visits vulnerable people the day before their provincial monthly income-assistance checks come in because overdoses often spike then. He is on-call 24/7 for urgent addiction matters and is part of a rotation of doctors who drive north once a week to provide primary care and deliver medication, sometimes even taking patients back to Hope to detox in hospital. Grover also created the Fraser Health Region Rural Addictions Network to connect those who serve remote communities.
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