PATIENTS OVERWHELM PSYCHIATRIC FACILITY

Courtnall Centre Director Quits, Citing Lack Of Resources To Treat
Addictions

Victoria's new Archie Courtnall Centre is a revolving door for an
overwhelming number of people who are both mentally ill and have
addiction problems, said Dr. Anthony Barale, upon resigning from the
emergency psychiatric facility at Royal Jubilee Hospital.

Citing "long-standing frustrations" with the Vancouver Island Health
Authority's failure to adequately treat the complex needs of an
unexpected wave of patients with addictions, Barale is quitting his
job as the clinical director of the nearly two-year-old $2.2 million
psychiatric emergency facility. He is taking a new job at Victoria
General Hospital.

"The Archie Courtnall Centre, designed as a resource for all
psychiatric patients in crisis, has become the default processing
centre for addicted individuals seeking treatment," Barale said,
noting the facility serves other severely mentally ill patients well.

"We didn't anticipate the amount or the intensity of the addicted
people we would see," Barale added. "It's huge."

The 48-year-old doctor was instrumental in planning and running the
facility, paid for mostly through money raised by Victoria's Courtnall
brothers -- Bruce and former NHL stars Russ and Geoff -- whose father,
Archie, committed suicide after a battle with mental illness.

"The staff of the psychiatric emergency service struggle daily to
provide even the most basic medical and psychiatric care for this
suffering population," Barale said. "And they do so with little
support and the pitiful resources provided by VIHA -- resources which,
even by so-called Third World standards are entirely
inadequate."

The major problem, he said, is that with only seven detox beds for
addicted adults in the community and no residential beds for adults to
stay sober, many people with addictions -- who are also mentally ill
and often living with HIV or hepatitis, or are homeless -- end up at
the Archie Courtnall Centre "time and time again."

Alan Campbell, director for VIHA's mental health and addiction
services, admits the number of mentally ill patients with addictions
seeking help has taxed resources, but says there's a positive aspect
to that. "What it's done is given us a much better understanding of
the extent of the needs in the community."

The 24-hour Archie Courtnall Centre has an annual operating budget of
$3.2 million. Since opening, the psychiatric emergency service has
admitted 629 patients.

Of those, 37 per cent had a primary diagnosis of addiction.

Of the 629 patients admitted, 229 were admitted to the facility's four
short-stay 72-hour beds. Of that 229, 42 per cent had a primary
diagnosis of addiction. "It's a significant number obviously,"
Campbell said.

The facility is specialized and calming and caring -- everything the
Courtnalls wanted, he said. "It's a measure of its success because
people have come and are getting help."

The patients who come through the facility -- from suicidal to
psychotic and often with multiple problems -- were previously admitted
through the hospital's often overcrowded ER department.

VIHA has plans to provide more mental health services throughout the
Island -- with Nanaimo Regional General Hospital being a priority,
Campbell said. By comparison, Victoria is well served, Campbell said.