Calls for medically supervised injecting room in Geelong gain support

A PETITION advocating for a medically supervised injecting room in Geelong is gathering support.

Debbie Brady launched the petition in late September, and it has already amassed over 5,000 signatures.

Earlier this year, Ms. Brady’s son, Jye, tragically overdosed on heroin. At the time, he was visiting a local community health centre to access the needle exchange program.

“He lay there for potentially 2 to 3 hours in the community centre, in a disability toilet that had no alarm button,” Ms Brady says.

“It took me three months to speak to the community centre where he overdosed.

“There wasn’t much empathy,” Ms Brady said.

“After that meeting, I felt a burning drive I couldn’t extinguish.”

Judy Ryan, the author of “You Talk We Die: The Battle For Victoria’s First Safe Injecting Facility” has added her voice to the campaign.

While Ms. Ryan is one of the most significant voices in the space, she considers herself an accidental activist. When someone overdosed at her back gate, she recalled thinking, “they should do something”.

“Then I thought, ‘who is “they”?’ and realised I had to do something to affect change,” she said.

Ms. Ryan founded the Residents for Victoria Street Drug Solutions campaign in 2016. Two years later, the Medically Supervised Injecting Room in North Richmond welcomed its first visitors.

Since it opened, the centre has successfully managed over 7000 overdoses.

Ms. Brady believes that while a medically supervised injecting room in Geelong can’t bring back her son, it could safeguard others. She hopes that the momentum in Geelong will build as it did in Richmond, so no other parents have to endure what she experienced.

On Thursday, Ms. Ryan was part of a panel at Geelong Library that delved into grassroots campaigns and how a unified community can work together to save lives in Geelong.

View the Change.org petition.