2023 Winner: Early Adopter of Innovation
Winner: Sumantra “Monty” Ghosh, Doctor of Internal Medicine and Addiction Medicine, Alberta Health Services; Clinical Assistant Professor, University of Alberta / University of Calgary
Presenter: Hasnain Baloach – Alberta Catalyzer Coach, Edmonton Unlimited
In photo: Ron Murch, Senior Instructor Emeritus, Haskayne School of Business
Initiative: Using technological innovations to preventing drug overdoses for people using substances alone during the opioid epidemic.
Finalist: Early Adopter of Innovation
Dr. Ghosh’s work is around bringing harm reduction to individuals who use drugs alone. With over 70% of opioid overdoses happening when people use substances alone, Dr. Ghosh works with various community partners and academics to create innovative ways for people to stay safe as they use drugs. His largest contributions so far have been to help co-create the National Overdose Response Service with Grenfell Ministries, in which individuals who use drugs call a phone number and work with peers who will monitor them as they use substances. If they overdose, the peers dispatch EMS services to their home. He has also worked with the Alberta Government to co-create the Digital Overdose Response Service, a similar service using a smartphone app with an automatic timer. Collectively, these two services have prevented over 98 potential overdoses across the country.
