A Saskatoon outreach worker is calling for safe-injection sites and more detox centres in the city following the death of a friend on New Year’s Day.
Lynn Thompson wants to see community groups come together to better tackle poverty and addictions issues after what she says was her friend Rudy Kishayinew’s freezing death.
“I think as a community we’re feeling a little bit guilty, and me too,” said Thompson, an independent outreach worker.
“I knew Rudy and I’m like, ‘Why? How come she didn’t get a hold of me?’ Like I have all those questions, so I think it’s hurt our community.”
Kishayinew’s body was found late in the morning New Year’s Day on the 1500 block of 20th Street West.
Police say the death was accidental in nature.
Kishayinew was high on drugs early in the morning Jan. 1 when she went into St. Paul’s Hospital with a friend to warm up and use the phone, according to Thompson.
Thompson says Kishayinew was denied access to the phone and was asked to leave the hospital at about 3:15 a.m. The temperature at the time was about -23 C, with wind chills reaching-35.
The friend, who was with Kishayinew at the hospital, found her body the next morning.
“A 22-year-old two-spirited girl didn’t know where to go, how to get help,” Thompson said, referring to Kishayinew.
“These are really deep-rooted issues here.”
The Saskatoon Health Region says it has no record of anyone being forced to leave the hospital that night.
“Frequently community members come in to warm up, and sometimes to sleep in our waiting rooms. If there is ever a time where our ability to care for those who need medical assistance is compromised, we will ask those who are able and not requiring care, to leave,” an emailed statement from the region read.
“However, in these instances, our staff will support those who are clearly incapacitated and may face harm should they leave. These are situations our staff deal with daily.”
The region says it’s providing police with surveillance footage as the coroner’s office investigates the cause of death.
Region officials are also in talks with those who have raised concerns, and the region has reached out to Kishayinew’s family, the statement read.
Thompson says she hopes Kishayinew’s death sparks change.
“I’m hoping this discussion will bring organizations together and realize we need to do something,” she said. “It’s not going to take one community. It’s going to take the whole city to fix this problem.”
Thompson is organizing a ceremony to honour Kishayinew. The ceremony will be held Friday at 7 p.m. near the area her body was found on 20th Street West and Avenue P.
