The Five Hills Health Region (FHHR) sponsored a public meeting on Jan. 24, 2012 in order to discuss their plan to relocate the detox facility to the site of the former Ina Grafton Gage home in Moose Jaw and realign the services being provided by Thunder Creek Rehabilitation Association (TCRA).
One FHHR Representative, a consultant and the Executive Director of TCRA were on hand to provide (what has been reported as) vague answers to direct and pointed questions from the residents of Pleasant View, the workers, board members, and former clients of Angus Campbell, as well as members/leaders of SEIU-West.
The two main concerns clearly outlined by the residents of Pleasant View were :
- community safety; and
- the fact that the Health Region and the City did not consult with the public, prior to making the decision to relocate the detox facility in their residential neighbourhood.
One question was asked: Do people who are under the influence of alcohol or drugs ever show up to Angus Campbell for admission?
The reply was that when TCRA asked the police how many times they were called to the site, they were told only about 10 times in a year.
This info shocked community residents who live within blocks of the future home of the detox facility. After the meeting a member of SEIU-West who works at Angus Campbell Centre told a Union Representative that those are only the occasions that are reported…there are additional incidents.
This calls into question the claim set out in the FHHR’s distributed materials containing the original invite to attend public meetings that people who access detox centre services “cannot be admitted to the program if they are under the influence of alcohol or drugs”.
“Our members have told us that people are frequently admitted while under the influence of toxic substances,” said Tom Howe, Member Action Coordinator for SEIU-West.
Former clients of Angus Campbell stood and shared their appreciation of the service they received from the staff of the centre and cautioned FHHR to reconsider the shift of resources as the current Angus Campbell facility is ideally located out side of residential spaces and in an environment well-suited for the healing process to begin.
A representative of some of the elderly people living in a 2 block radius of the new Thunder Creek site indicated that these senior residents are deeply concerned for their safety.
One has to wonder how the elderly people who still reside at Ina Grafton feel. Not only will they be faced with a new rent increase on March 1, 2012, they will have to be concerned for their safety and the potential that they could be targeted for their medications.
Questions were asked about the cost of the new building, which organization purchased it and where the resources came from. In addition, who was to cover the costs of renovations? No clear answers were offered as to where the money to purchase the building came from but the cost was $1.2 million. Renovation costs were identified at a $200,000 to $300,000 value and will be covered by FHHR.
The Executive Director of TCRA indicated that they are open to discussions with SEIU-West. On behalf of SEIU-West, Tom Howe, Member Action Coordinator stated: “SEIU-West is here tonight because our members will be losing their jobs. But that’s not the only reason. We also represent workers from the hospital, home care and long-term care facilities in Moose Jaw; this is their community, they live here too and we rise to the opportunity to demonstrate our support and offer any resources we might have available to get our members’ important community concerns heard and addressed.”
Janice Platzke, Treasurer of SEIU-West asked the representative of their commitment to promote publicly funded, publicly delivered and publicly administered health care services. Sadly, this question was yet another that received no clear reply.
Another ‘Town Hall’ meeting is scheduled for Thursday of this week. We are hopeful that more people will attend to share their worries and concerns. Be sure, though, if the first ‘Town Hall’ meeting is any indication, people are not leaving with their worries alleviated.
Here are some articles that are related to this subject:
Jan. 20, 2012 – Angus Campbell Centre union has questions
Jan. 25, 2012 – Detox Drama – to read comments posted be readers of the article, CLICK HERE.
Jan. 25, 2012 – Residents continue to have concerns
Jan. 26, 2012 – Wishing for more council representation at ‘town hall’ meeting
