The PROTECT Protocol

Overview

The Challenge

Overdose-related brain injury is central to both overdose risk and recovery failure, yet current health systems are not designed with this in mind. [truncated for brevity]

Approach

How I Worked

I designed the PROTECT Protocol after working in Vancouver's Downtown Eastside and realizing that I was witnessing a brain-injury epidemic. The PROTOCOL takes emergning evidence from concussion and traumatic brain injury and cross-polinates it to serve overdose survivors, while adjusting exsisting services to acknowledge the realities of cognitive decline.

Outcomes

What Changed

• This work has resulted in high-level meetings with senior executives and health systems leadership, supporting a new approach to overdose conceptualization and response