By Emily Yeap
Ottawa’s detox centre has avoided a temporary shutdown planned for December, but a shortage of funds may still force it to close for a month next March.
The Ottawa Withdrawal Management Centre, which helps addicts cope with the pain and illness of alcohol and drug withdrawal, was scheduled to close at the end of the year to recover a $41,700 budget shortfall.
But two weeks ago, the centre’s management postponed the closure as discussions with the Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care showed signs of progress, says Virginia Hamilton, the manager of the detox centre.
Bill Hayden, the chair of the centre’s advisory committee, says the facility can avoid temporary closure if money comes in before the end of March. If not, he says closure is the only solution.
“If that happens, some people will drift to shelters, some will be picked up and put in police cells and some will end up in emergency rooms,” Hayden says. “But the system was designed to get them out of these places.”
Hamilton says the 24-hour centre, which operates on a first come, first served basis, has never closed since it opened in 1974.
“It’s extremely, extremely worrisome,” she says. “This is very much life and death and trying to reach people. They don’t wait on a wait list. This is not the nature of our service.”
The possible closure is one of many problems facing the centre due to a lack of funds from the provincial government.
In August, the detox centre was forced to reduce services. The number of beds was cut from 20 for men and six for women to 15 for men and five for women.
“As a 26-bed unit, we were refusing approximately 1,000 requests for admissions. So as a 20-bed unit, that certainly has increased,” Hamilton says.
Three months ago, the Sisters of Charity Health Service, which runs the centre, announced it was pulling out because of insufficient funding. In the last decade, the centre’s budget has increased only 1.2 per cent to the current budget of about $870,000 despite soaring costs and growing demand for beds.
The Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care is negotiating with several local hospitals to sponsor the centre. Hamilton says she’s encouraged with the developments thus far.
But Hayden isn’t as optimistic.
“Once the hospitals find out about the financial problems, they won’t want the burden,” he says. “I’m not sure what would happen.”
If the detox centre closes next year, Hayden says it will have a major impact not only on addicts, but also on addiction recovery facilities and health centres in the city.
Tom Jackson, assistant director of Sobriety House, an addiction treatment centre in the Glebe, agrees.
He says his facility receives about 50-60 per cent of its referrals from the detox centre. A former addict himself, Jackson says the loss of the centre would be damaging to the addiction services system in Ottawa.
“I hope they don’t fall through. I hope they can keep on going because they do supply such a great service and the staff there are so caring.”
Betty MacGregor, Centretown Community Health Centre manager of lifestyle enrichment for senior adults, a program that provides substance abuse counselling, says Ottawa is already under serviced in terms of detox facilities – closing the centre would only make things worse.
Elaine Elmhirst, executive director of Empathy House, an addiction treatment facility on Sunnyside Avenue, says the detox centre is essential to the community.
“If people can’t go to the detox centre because it’s closed, that means they have to go to the hospitals. Are the emergency rooms prepared to handle that many intoxicated people?”