Turning Point Society

This past month has kept us busy with events. A few we’ve been to include QNSRD’s Pride in the Park Market on July 11th, The Mustard Seed’s 10th Anniversary BBQ on July 13th, and we walked in the Westerner Day Parade on July 15th.

Each year, we look forward to the QNSRD Pride in the Park Market. The environment is always welcoming and positive, with a lot of resource sharing and connection. This year we had a pair of small helping hands that helped us set up our booth (who also wanted in on the picture). For family friendly events like this one, we ensure content put out is appropriate and that there’s always staff monitoring our table to make sure the resources people are engaging with are age appropriate. For the kids, we had stickers, mini erasers and candy to hand out!

On the 13th we got to celebrate the Mustard Seed, one of our community partners, for their 10-year anniversary in our community. Their presence in the community has had an incredibly positive impact from ensuring our children have meals to sheltering some of our most vulnerable. Each week they invite one of our nurses into their wellness space to provide nursing care, including wound care, to those that need it but struggle to connect with traditional medical pathways. If they do need further medical care, we work with them to provide medical system navigation, referrals, and find solutions to the barriers they are experiencing that prevent medical care access.

Then, on the 15th, we walked in the Westerner Day Parade and felt nothing but love from the community. We are always grateful for the cheers and outpouring of love that we feel when we participate in the parade, and we thank everyone for their support.

Medetomidine has been found in the unregulated drug supply across Canada – specifically, it is found in opioids like fentanyl. Medetomidine is a non-opioid sedative meant for animals, but since it is often combined with opioids, naloxone should be given in suspected poisonings. Medetomidine poisoning causes reduced respiratory rate, a slow heart rate, high blood pressure that drops to dangerously low blood pressure, confusion, and reduced responsiveness. If someone is unable to keep fluids down because of vomiting, or if they have a fast heart rate, chest pain, or trouble breathing, or if they are confused or disoriented, they need emergency medical care. Call 911.

Naloxone should still be given in a suspected poisoning because medetomidine is found in the unregulated opioid supply. The naloxone will not work for the medetomidine, but it will still work to reverse the effects of the opioids.

If you are a person using drugs, carry naloxone, never use alone, and start slow.

Our office will be closed tomorrow AM as we are on the parade route and will be walking in the parade also. We’ll be open as usual for the afternoon.

So grateful for the support, thank you for the donations The Love Pack Project

Every Love Pack says what sometimes words cannot; you are seen, you matter, you are not alone. 💜

Turning Point Society
Lighting Hope Collective The Dented Can Painted Treasures The Otherside Angele’s Stained Glass.

We are seeking some of the following donations:
- Water bottles or bottled water
- Toothbrushes
- Individual/travel sized toothpaste and deodorant
- Baby wipes
- NEW underwear for men and women
- Bras
- Socks
- Rain ponchos
- Emergency blankets
- Hot Rod Pepperoni Sticks
- Monetary donations

Donations can be brought to our office at 4808 #402 50 St, in downtown Red Deer across from City Hall Park. We are open Monday to Friday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., but closed from 12 p.m. to 1 p.m. for lunch. Calling ahead before dropping off donations is recommended. (403) 346-8858.

If you are interested in giving a monetary gift, you can donate through our website or bring cash or a cheque to our office. https://turningpoint-ca.org/

As always, we are so grateful for the generosity the community of Red Deer shows.

Rain or shine, DayReach is out providing services to our street involved community. On these wet weather days we take out extra socks and rain ponchos to help keep people dry. Feet are prone to infections that can quickly become complicated when left wet for prolonged periods of time. Socks and ponchos are great donation items if you have ever wanted to make an impact in our community, but weren't sure where to start.

If you would like to donate socks, we accept new and and used socks that are laundered and in like-new condition. You can drop them off at our office at 4808 50 St #402, Red Deer. We are open Monday - Friday, but closed from 12 p.m. to 1 p.m. each day for lunch. If you have any questions, feel free to call us at 403-346-8858.

Every Wednesday from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. our nurse, Raesi, will be at the Mustard Seed offering drop-in nursing care to those that need it. Located in the Wellness room, Raesi has access to a cart of medical supplies, a washing station, and space for assessments. She's able to provide basic wound care, help with medical system navigation, refer folks for further medical care when necessary, and provide women centered supports and pregnancy case management.

She also provides free wound care supplies for folks to take so they can better manage their wounds on their own between visits with medical professionals. The ability to keep wounds clean with frequent bandage changes is necessary to prevent infection, but bandages can be expensive to purchase. We hope to make wound care supplies more accessible for those that need it to improve health outcomes in our most vulnerable.

Once again, we extend our gratitude to the Mustard Seed for parterning with us to make wound care and nursing supports more accessible.

Last Thursday on June 25th, we were invited into Celebrate Recovery's space to provide their leadership with opioid response and naloxone training. We had some great questions, were able to do some myth busting, and, importantly, equipped a group of folks with the tools needed to respond to an opioid poisoning - an emergency situation. For some, this was their first training but for others they have had a few. We always encourage repeat trainings to brush up on current information and to get some more hands on practice. We need to repeat first aid, so why not repeat naloxone training!? Plus, our trainings are completely free.

We offer these trainings to anyone interested in Red Deer and Central Alberta. We do small or large group trainings, 1 on 1 training, we train businesses, organizations, or even you and your group of friends. We can host, or we can come to you.

If you are interested, reach out to us by phone or e-mail.
(403) 346-8858
[email protected]

This spring we were one of the recipients of the Community Microgrant distributed by the Community Foundation of Central Alberta. This microgrant provided us with $5,000 that we are using to offer support to our past rural satellite sites and individual rural clients during a time of program transition and critical service gaps. Our goal is to ensure that everyone has access to the care that they need to the best of our ability and resources like this are helping us do that.

One example of this is June 10th, when our staff were able to connect with Craig who runs Rock Soup Greenhouse and Foodbank – one of our past satellite sites in Wetaskiwin. We have developed a close relationship with Rock Soup over the years and have collaborated with them on different projects. They were a huge facilitator for our previous sexual health services in Wetaskiwin by graciously welcoming us into their space to provide drop in STBBI testing and treatment, STBBI prevention materials, wrap around supports, and education. Plus, during this visit our staff were gifted some beautiful plants to take home and we are so grateful!

All of our past satellite sites are doing important work in their communities. They all worked closely with us to improve the health of their clients, and we aim to provide as smooth of a transition as possible to the changes in programming. This microgrant gives us a greater capacity to make that happen.

Did you know that we distribute Naloxone throughout the entire Central Zone for free? Not only that, but we also provide free training on how to use it, and how to identify and respond to an opioid poisoning. Everyone benefits from having naloxone and knowing how to use it. If you’d like your organization, business, or agency trained on opioid poisoning response, get in touch with us. We can provide hands-on small or large group training, and we’ll leave you with naloxone kits to use if you identify an opioid poisoning and need to respond.

(403) 346-8858
[email protected]