With the overdose crisis growing rampant in the Lower Mainland and around the province, the Coquitlam mayor is urging B.C. government to make better use of the Riverview facility to combat the overdose epidemic.
In a six-minute video posted on his Facebook page, Richard Stewart says it’s time to re-establish significant mental health and addiction treatment at Riverview in the face of the overdose crisis.
The new overdose death numbers released by the BC Coroners Service last week showed the month of December saw 142 overdose deaths – the highest number of overdose deaths ever recorded in a single month in the province.
READ MORE: 914 overdose deaths in B.C. in 2016: 90% occurred inside
That averages nine deaths every two days and beats the record set in November with 128 deaths. The December deaths brought the provisional number for the whole of 2016 to a total of 914.
Although Coquitlam was not listed in the top 12 communities seeing the most overdose deaths, Stewart says every community in Metro Vancouver has been touched by the overdose crisis.
In the video that has already been viewed by more than 20,000 people, Stewart takes a walk through the derelict Riverview Hospital grounds, which he calls “240 acres of magnificent forest and treasured heritage buildings.”
Stewart says while the oldest facility was shut down in 1983 and has not been maintained since, there are many buildings at Riverview that still have “a lot of life” left in them.
He says “de-institutionalization” was a strategy popular in the past to provide the mentally ill with the support they needed in their own community.
“By and large, the strategy worked for many,” said Stewart. “But for many others, it failed, leaving them in the Downtown Eastside and elsewhere, self-medicating with alcohol and narcotics. We are now seeing those addictions come around and produce tremendous challenges for our society.”
He says a couple of years ago the City of Coquitlam put together a proposal, written by Dr. John Higenbottam who used to work at Riverview, suggesting re-establishing mental health services in a significant way at the site.
Stewart says the provincial government has accepted some elements of that proposal and has re-established some services at the site, but, Steward wonders, can Riverview be more than that?
“Right now, the crisis that’s before us is enormous,” said Stewart. “I call on the government to really look at this crisis that we are facing with overdoses largely caused by a drug that did not exist ten years ago. Let’s see what we can do to put in hundreds of beds to treat people with addictions and mental health, and really become the centre of excellence once again for putting people’s lives back together.”
READ MORE: Riverview Hospital to become a centre to treat mental health
He says the idea has a lot of support from both city council and the community.
“For a hundred years, we have had the largest mental health facility in the province right here in our community and we want it re-established,” he said.
The Ministry of Health told Global News they appreciate the mayor’s suggestion and want to assure him and British Columbians they are investing in the continuum of mental health and substance use supports.
“In fact, just last week we announced that Government is investing $10 million to open 60 additional short-term publicly-funded treatment beds over the next year to combat the overdose crisis. Twenty of the beds will be for youth. An additional 50 intensive outpatient treatment spaces will also be created with the funding. These new services will provide up to 440 people with residential or intensive outpatient treatment for opioid addiction over the next year as a result of the investment,” said ministry spokesperson Kristy Anderson in an emailed statement.