PROVINCE SCRAPS REHAB LOCATION

St. Vital Residents Object To St. Amant Site

New facility still needed to treat young addicts

By Aldo Santin THE Health department has bowed to pressure from a
group of St. Vital residents and cancelled plans to locate a rehab
centre for severely addicted young people on the St. Amant grounds.

Yvonne Block, executive director of mental health, addictions and
spiritual health for Health Manitoba, said the department is looking
for another site somewhere in the city for the innovative program,
operated by staff from Marymound, known as the youth addictions
stabilization unit.

"We made that decision (Wednesday) to respect the wishes of the
community," Block said, adding that a large number of residents
living close to the St. Amant grounds had been complaining about the
project for the past three months.

The province planned to build a one-storey, 7,535 square-foot
building on a portion of St. Amant's expansive grounds. St. Amant, a
resource and residential cenre that provides programs for people with
developmental disabilities, is located on the banks of the Red River,
off River Road and south of Bishop Grandin Boulevard.

The proposed structure was to provide a locked, seven-day, drying-out
facility for kids aged 12 to 17 years of age whose parents have
obtained a court order to send them for treatment.

The objective of the program is to get kids off their addictions
quickly and in a mental state where they can be moved to another
facility for long-term treatment.

Nancy Cooke, a local resident, said she was pleased that the province
cancelled the location.

Cooke said area residents had conducted an intense lobbying effort,
contacting area New Democrat MLAs and cabinet ministers Christine
Melnick (water stewardship) and Kerri Irvin-Ross (healthy living) and
members of the PC caucus.

Marymound, a private, non-profit agency providing a range of
therapeutic and educational services to young people and their
families, has been running the program out of a 100-year-old building
for the past year, where it treated 150 youths. But Marymound said
the building is inadequate, with an outdated heating and ventilation
system and with problems ensuring security.

Marymound proposed leasing land from St. Amant but residents opposed
the plan, expressing concern over potential threats from youths who
might escape from the new facility and fears of drug dealers coming
into the neighbourhood.

The St. Amant property is zoned residential and the site needed to be
rezoned and a variance granted to allow it to be constructed closer
than regulations allow to another youth treatment centre.

An appearance before the Board of Adjustment in mid-January was
changed to next week but Block said the application will now be withdrawn.

Block said the province, which is funding the program, remains
committed to it. "We want to find another site as soon as possible,"
Block said.

Gwenda Nemerofsky, spokeswoman for Marymound, said the lease at the
current site expires in June, adding she expects it will have to be
extended until a new location can be secured.