Amputations due to frostbite on the rise in Edmonton medical zone

Amputations due to frostbite in the Edmonton medical zone have hit a 10-year high, according to data from Alberta Health Services.

In the 2021-22 fiscal year, 91 amputations due to frostbite were recorded.

AHS attributes the increase to the increasing number of unhoused people exposed to harsh winter conditions.

Of approximately 2,700 people in Edmonton who are homeless, around 1,250 are living outdoors or in shelters.

Additionally, AHS spokesperson James Wood says fentanyl overdoses over the past three to four years have also contributed to higher numbers of people suffering frostbite.

He added that emergency room visits for frostbite were also up in 2021-22 for similar reasons.

“While not all homeless are unhoused during the cold winter months, many struggle with multiple issues including mental health, addictions, and general health problems. Barriers to accessing community and health supports, especially during the pandemic, were also compounding factors that may have contributed to higher incidents of frostbite-related amputations,” Wood wrote in a statement to CTV News Edmonton.

According to Wood, amputations are only performed in frostbite cases when tissue will not heal or the digit or limb has become severely infected and is threatening a person’s life.

'ALARMING AND TROUBLING DATA'

The numbers don’t come as a surprise to people who work with at-risk Edmontonians.

“This is very alarming and troubling data that we’ve received, but it does correspond with what we’re seeing on the ground and at our facilities and in our programs,” Elliott Tanti of Boyle Street Community Services (BSCS) told CTV News Edmonton.

“We regularly encounter people with amputations related to frostbite, people with severe mobility issues. Accessibility is always an issue for those we serve, and many of those ailments are related to amputations related to frostbite.”

Tanti says he hopes the information will change how Edmontonians view the at-risk people in their community.

“A lot of the conversation in the last little while around homelessness has been really focused on public safety, and this is really a public health issue. We need to bring compassion and dignity and care back into the way we’re looking at homelessness.”

“We need to be shifting away from narratives of how homeless folks are unsafe for others and how they’re actually living incredibly unsafe lives.”

He added that BSCS plans to use the numbers to advocate for more support and more diverse spaces for their clients.

“We need better infrastructure in our downtown communities in the core. It's why one of the focuses of our organization is a new building that’s accessible, it’s because we’re seeing this more and more regularly.”

In November, the city revoked the development permit for a new BSCS building two blocks north of its current site.