Latest news with #Hôtel-DieuGraceHealthcare
Yahoo
19-03-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Timeline unclear, details still slim on new homelessness addiction treatment hub in Windsor
One of the lead organizations on Windsor's new Homelessness Addiction Recovery Treatment (HART) hub services says "there hasn't been much movement" on the project, but the province says it will be operational in less than two weeks. At the end of January, Ontario Minister of Health Sylvia Jones announced that Windsor would get a HART hub — a bundle of services including new treatment beds, transitional housing and stabilization beds to give people a place to stay as they move into the next phase of their recovery. In an interview, Hôtel-Dieu Grace Healthcare (HDGH), a lead agency on the project, told CBC News at the time that an agreement hadn't been finalized and it didn't have many details. But, HDGH CEO Bill Marra had said they intended to finish planning the project before March 31, in time to begin a phased roll-out on April 1. And when asked for an update this week, a spokesperson for HDGH told CBC News that "with the timing of the announcement and the election, there hasn't been much movement." Ontario Health Minister Sylvia Jones announced the HART hub for Windsor-Essex early 2025. (Darryl Dyck/Canadian Press) "We continue to await further details from the government and to date, we have received funding confirmation letter. With that said, planning and discussions have been ongoing with partners," reads an emailed statement. They added that they're not able to make the details of the letter public at this time. Yet the province seems to have a different understanding. In an email Tuesday, a spokesperson for the Ministry of Health said, "all sites will be operational as of April 1." They continued to say that "The Ministry is continuing to work with all 27 HART Hubs on their multi-year operational budgets." The province hasn't yet responded to a question about what services Windsor-Essex can expect to have available by the beginning of April. At least one HART hub in the province, in Guelph, has confirmed that it won't be open in time because of funding delays. What will Windsor's hub services include? On the provincial government's website, it says that the proposed services for Windsor's HART hub include: Primary care. Mental health and addictions services including assessment, care coordination withdrawal management. Peer support. Mental health and addictions supportive housing. Services to meet basic needs. The website notes that the "primary objective" of the local HART hub is to "divert repeated/inappropriate emergency department visits by providing individuals with more immediate access to help and efficiently using local community resources." Hôtel-Dieu Grace Healthcare is co-ordinating the effort to create the Windsor-Essex Ontario Health Team. (Jonathan Pinto/CBC) Based on previous conversations with HDGH's Marra, these services will be spread across existing organizations. HDGH did not confirm with CBC how much funding it has been approved for, though it previously said it asked to receive $18 million dollars over three years. The provincial government had initially announced the HART hub concept in August 2024, after it decided that it would be closing multiple drug consumption and treatment sites. That meant that Windsor's site, SafePoint, which was awaiting provincial funding, was permanently closed.
CBC
12-02-2025
- Health
- CBC
Mental health, addictions crisis centre expands to round-the-clock hours
A downtown centre for urgent addictions and mental health crises will now be open around the clock for intakes from first responders. The Mental Health and Addictions Urgent Crisis Centre (MHAUCC), run by Hôtel-Dieu Grace Healthcare and the Canadian Mental Health Agency (CMHA), is expand its hours to be open 24 hours a day, seven days a week for intake from police and paramedics, the hospital and partners announced Tuesday. The centre currently offers walk-in services available from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. But with the expansion to 24/7 operations, police and paramedics can bring people in anytime with the goal of "freeing up time to respond to priority incidents and reducing emergency room wait times," the hospital and partners said in a statement. When clients come to the urgent crisis centre, they will receive stabilization care in one of four available beds, and can stay there for 48 hours. Current walk-in crisis services — for people not brought for intake by police or paramedics — will remain available. "This is one more tool to enhance services, to get police and EMS back on the road where they belong quicker and to allow, ultimately, that patient or client to get the care that she or he requires with follow up," said hospital CEO Bill Marra. "This is a starting point. We need to ensure that there's more available after they leave here. And it's nice to be able to go to 24/7 because we're not locking the door at 8 [p.m.] ... saying 'sorry, we'll see you tomorrow.' It's 'what more can we do for you while you're here?'" In the last six months of the year, the urgent crisis centre saw nearly 950 clients, the hospital says. The budget for the project is "well north" of $1 million annually, Marra added. It's being paid for in part with re-purposed funding from a pre-pandemic program that is no longer operational. Windsor police chief Jason Bellaire says he feels the service will make a big impact. "Being able to bring somebody who has agreed, in a moment of clarity to say, 'I would like to enter withdrawal management' or 'I'd like some certain services,' to have the ability to transport that person to this centre here and they immediately start to receive care." Nicole Sbrocca is the CEO of the Canadian Mental Health Association Windsor-Essex County. She says the service, and others planned for the region such as the recently-announced Homelessness and Addictions Recovery Treatment (HART) hub, mean more ways for people to seek help. "This is one aspect of it, opening the doors 24 hours a day, seven days a week," she said. "The hope is that there's no wrong door of entry ... and we'll get them to the correct end state to improve the long term outcomes in downstream supports that they need."
CBC
30-01-2025
- Health
- CBC
New provincial funding for addictions expected to bring first of its kind service to Windsor
Windsor will get new 'stabilization beds' for people seeking addiction treatment — but what are they? 2 hours ago Duration 1:38 Social Sharing It's a well-known gap in addiction treatment in Windsor-Essex: After detox, people are left waiting weeks or months to get into a recovery program. Outreach workers and health experts say people often relapse during this waiting period, and some don't end up making it to treatment. "Sometimes you just lose people, they go through withdrawal management and then they have to wait for an appointment or wait for a treatment bed and that's where the real high risk period is," said Bill Marra, CEO of Hôtel-Dieu Grace Healthcare. But new funding announced by the province Monday for a Homelessness and Addiction Recovery Treatment (HART) hub in Windsor-Essex includes a fix: stabilization beds. Healthcare leaders in the region think these could be a game changer for those on the pathway to recovery. What are stabilization beds? Stabilization beds would be available to people who have completed withdrawal management, also known as detox, and are waiting to get into a treatment program. According to Windsor-Essex Ontario Health Team (WEOHT) executive director Joyce Zuk, this type of bed and attached supports for people leaving detox are the first of their kind in the region. WEOHT is one of the co-leads on the HART hub. Hôtel-Dieu Grace Healthcare's withdrawal program includes having people stay in their facility for four to five days. Then after detox the person is usually sent home as they wait for treatment. But Zuk confirmed to CBC News that a stabilization bed will allow someone to stay in supportive programming until they land a spot in a residential addiction treatment facility or a community-based program. Leslie Laframboise, an outreach worker in downtown Windsor, says this is really needed. "If they leave detox and they have nowhere to go, they end up back on the street, back using again, back in a bad mental health state, which then it takes a while to get them back to where they want to get back into treatment. So it's just a vicious cycle," she said. How many beds is the area getting, and where? Right now, Zuk and Marra, whose organization is also a co-lead on the HART hub, say they have few details. They don't know how many stabilization beds the region will get, but they're expecting more information and a funding letter to arrive soon. It's also unclear where the beds will be located. And stabilization beds aren't the only ones expected to be added to the region. Both Zuk and Marra said the HART hub should also bring additional residential treatment beds and transitional housing beds. Transitional housing is for people who are in recovery and have just completed an addiction treatment program. These spaces often have social workers or treatment counselors who can help people stay on track, teach them to build routine and support them in getting a job, housing or reuniting them with their children. Brentwood Recovery Home, a residential treatment facility, is expected to receive some of the funding and open up new treatment and transitional housing beds. CEO Elizabeth Dulmage said that in the proposal they asked for more treatment beds and at least 34 transitional housing beds. She said Brentwood's transitional units would need some renovations before opening, but she's confident they could quickly be made available. "It's no secret that the need for treatment beds has far exceeded our capacity to be able to meet those needs and so any additional beds are more welcome than you can imagine," she said. Dulmage added that she's hopeful the stabilization beds will make a difference by allowing people to come into treatment feeling ready.
Yahoo
29-01-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
New provincial funding for addictions expected to bring first of its kind service to Windsor
It's a well-known gap in addiction treatment in Windsor-Essex: After detox, people are left waiting weeks or months to get into a recovery program. Outreach workers and health experts say people often relapse during this waiting period, and some don't end up making it to treatment. "Sometimes you just lose people, they go through withdrawal management and then they have to wait for an appointment or wait for a treatment bed and that's where the real high risk period is," said Bill Marra, CEO of Hôtel-Dieu Grace Healthcare. But new funding announced by the province Monday for a Homelessness and Addiction Recovery Treatment (HART) hub in Windsor-Essex includes a fix: stabilization beds. Healthcare leaders in the region think these could be a game changer for those on the pathway to recovery. What are stabilization beds? Stabilization beds would be available to people who have completed withdrawal management, also known as detox, and are waiting to get into a treatment program. According to Windsor-Essex Ontario Health Team (WEOHT) executive director Joyce Zuk, this type of bed and attached supports for people leaving detox are the first of their kind in the region. WEOHT is one of the co-leads on the HART hub. Hôtel-Dieu Grace Healthcare's withdrawal program includes having people stay in their facility for four to five days. Then after detox the person is usually sent home as they wait for treatment. But Zuk confirmed to CBC News that a stabilization bed will allow someone to stay in supportive programming until they land a spot in a residential addiction treatment facility or a community-based program. Brentwood Recovery Home, a residential addiction treatment facility, is one of the organizations that will be able to open additional spaces for people looking to recover or stay in transitional housing. (Jennifer La Grassa/CBC) Leslie Laframboise, an outreach worker in downtown Windsor, says this is really needed. "If they leave detox and they have nowhere to go, they end up back on the street, back using again, back in a bad mental health state, which then it takes a while to get them back to where they want to get back into treatment. So it's just a vicious cycle," she said. How many beds is the area getting, and where? Right now, Zuk and Marra, whose organization is also a co-lead on the HART hub, say they have few details. They don't know how many stabilization beds the region will get, but they're expecting more information and a funding letter to arrive soon. It's also unclear where the beds will be located. And stabilization beds aren't the only ones expected to be added to the region. Leslie Laframboise has been an outreach worker in the City of Windsor since 2021. She regularly goes out at night and hands out supplies to people who are living on the streets. (Jennifer La Grassa/CBC) Both Zuk and Marra said the HART hub should also bring additional residential treatment beds and transitional housing beds. Transitional housing is for people who are in recovery and have just completed an addiction treatment program. These spaces often have social workers or treatment counselors who can help people stay on track, teach them to build routine and support them in getting a job, housing or reuniting them with their children. Brentwood Recovery Home, a residential treatment facility, is expected to receive some of the funding and open up new treatment and transitional housing beds. CEO Elizabeth Dulmage said that in the proposal they asked for more treatment beds and at least 34 transitional housing beds. She said Brentwood's transitional units would need some renovations before opening, but she's confident they could quickly be made available. "It's no secret that the need for treatment beds has far exceeded our capacity to be able to meet those needs and so any additional beds are more welcome than you can imagine," she said. Dulmage added that she's hopeful the stabilization beds will make a difference by allowing people to come into treatment feeling ready. Planning has already started for these services and Marra says they'll be slowly ramping up at the beginning of April.
CBC
27-01-2025
- Health
- CBC
Windsor getting new Homelessness and Addiction Recovery Treatment (HART) hub
Windsor will be getting a new Homelessness and Addiction Recovery Treatment (HART) hub, Ontario health minister Sylvia Jones has announced. The project is co-led by Hôtel-Dieu Grace Healthcare, House of Sophrosyne and the Windsor-Essex Community Health Centre. It's one of 18 new hubs across Ontario the health ministry announced on Monday. The province previously announced nine others on Jan. 2. "Today's announcement ... is a great step forward in supporting the marginalized residents of Windsor-Essex," said Hôtel-Dieu Grace Healthcare President and CEO Bill Marra in a news release. "I commend our minister and her colleagues for their continued commitment to filling the gaps in mental health and addiction care through the augmentation and creation of new services." The announcement follows a decision by the province in August of last year to close down consumption and treatment services, sometimes known as supervised consumption sites, operating within 200 metres of schools and licensed child-care centres. Windsor's SafePoint had previously closed in January of 2024. The Windsor-Essex County Health Unit (WECHU) had opened SafePoint at Goyeau and Wyandotte Street East in April 2023 after it got federal approval to operate as an urgent public health needs site. The health unit had decided to temporarily fund it until it could get provincial approval. But its application became stalled when the government undertook an Ontario-wide review of all sites following a shooting near a CTS site in Toronto in August 2023. The decision to ban sites within 200 metres of schools and childcare centres prevented SafePoint from ever reopening at its prior location and the health unit ended its tenancy of the building late last year. The Canadian Mental Health Association Lambton Kent Sarnia will also receive a HART Hub, according to the province.
