Growing mental health concerns across Fraser Health Authority region

Families and residents of an Abbotsford mental health facility that is slated for closure in 2016 met with the Fraser Health Authority (FHA) last night hoping for answers. Instead they were left with more frustration than information.

Mountain View Home, which houses and cares for 25 residents with severe and persistent mental illness, has been open since 1986, and in August they were notified their funding from FHA would be pulled next year, and all residents relocated.

It’s a decision that has left a lot of the residents and their families shocked and unsure of their next steps. Which is why they were hoping to get a better understanding of the health authority’s plan last night, but after two hours, they say they were left with few answers.

Thirty-year-old Owen Schipfel has Asperger’s Syndrome and obsessive compulsive disorder and is a resident at Mountain View. Schipfel was at last night’s meeting and says FHA’s plan to shutdown his “home” made him feel uncomfortable.

“My way of life, the way I live, would have to be changed dramatically,” Owen said carefully.

“It would be hard to live, I think.”

Tweet This Click to share quote on Twitter: "My way of life, the way I live, would have to be changed dramatically," Owen said carefully.</p><p>"It would be hard to live, I think."

Closing Mountain View will be the second mental health facility shutdown in the Fraser Valley. In June 2012, Sunrise, a 30-bed residential facility was closed and residents were relocated to existing health beds in the area.

While there’s a call for more homes and beds to accommodate people with mental health issues, it appears the number of beds is decreasing — regardless of the new facility FHA is opening in Abbotsford on Marshall Road next year.

When the new Marshall Road facility opens in the summer of 2016, they will create 30 Licensed Care (LC) beds, 20 Assisted Living (AL) beds and 18 Supported Independent Living (SIL) beds to replace the 55 LC beds at Sunrise and Mountain View.

But there are differences between the types of beds. Licensed Care offers 24-hour staffing by a registered nurse and higher regulations. Assisted Living only offers 24-hour staff, but at reduced levels, and often with support staff instead of registered nurses. And Supported Independent Living is based on living in the community, with support ranging from once a day to every two weeks.

While it means there were 86 Licensed Care beds in Abbotsford in 2006, there will be just 64 when Mountain View closes and Marshall Road opens. A decade ago, FHA projected a need for 90 beds by 2016.

One piece of information the families did learn at last night’s meeting was the 30 beds at the new Marshall Road facility are being promised to both groups — Sunrise, which lost 30 beds when it was closed in 2012 and Mountain View, which will eventually lose 25 beds.

“They’ve sold the building twice,” Tove Olsen said.

“What’s going to happen if they all want to come here? The mental health facilities are all full.”

Tweet This Click to share quote on Twitter: "They've sold the building twice," Tove Olsen said.</p><p>"What's going to happen if they all want to come here? The mental health facilities are all full."

Olsen and her husband Barry Johnson are dealing with two adult-aged sons diagnosed with schizophrenia. The Chilliwack couple was left completely shell-shocked over the closure of Mountain View, where their eldest son has resided for 21 years.

But FHA says the concerns of residents and their families is a priority.

“We’re going to continue to engage with them, and to work to allay their concerns in the next weeks and months as we move towards the closure of Mountain View,” FH Mental Health Substance Use Services executive director Any Libbiter told Global News.

“The message I really want the families to hear is that we will work with each and every resident and their family members. And I want to be absolutely unequivocal that every resident at Mountain View will have a place at the new facility on Marshall Road, or we will find somewhere else for them… If the residents need licensed care, then that’s what they’ll get.”

Tweet This Click to share quote on Twitter: "The message I really want the families to hear is that we will work with each and every resident and their family members. And I want to be absolutely unequivocal that every resident at Mountain View will have a place at the new facility on Marshall Road, or we will find somewhere else for them… If the residents need licensed care, then that's what they'll get."

Looking at the numbers for the FHA region, which stretches east from Burnaby to Hope, in 2006 there were 647 beds, and based on the health authority’s own projections, they estimated the need for 983 beds by 2016. Currently, Libbiter says the FHA has “slightly less” than 600 beds in the region.

With a region where the population is growing significantly, FHA is short roughly one-third of the beds initially identified for people with mental health issues.

Why the decrease in beds? Libbiter says some facilities have closed and FHA has reinvested money into other facilities due to shifting demands and the requirements of the region.

Some critics suggest the closures and decrease in licensed care beds is a way for FHA to save money since a licensed bed costs the health authority roughly $36,000 on average.

Libbiter says that is “categorically not” the case.

“We are not doing any of this work as a cost-saving measure,” he says.

“We are leveraging our resources to create new forms of housing. We are reinvesting but we are not conducting any of our housing initiatives on a cost-saving basis.”

~ with files from John Hua