RECOVERING ADDICT FIGHTS FOR DETOX

Recovering addict Cynthia Ward is so incensed by the imminent closure
of the Chilliwack detox unit, that she's collecting signatures for a
petition to try and stop it.

"I feel compelled to do something," she told The Progress as she
headed out into the streets of downtown with a friend to gather signatures.

She and others around town have been talking about the Fraser Health
cost-cutting decision to close the 10-bed detox unit at Chilliwack
General Hospital, in part to mitigate a $160 million budget shortfall.
(Chilliwack Progress, Nov. 6)

"I myself went through detox three times, and today I am happily
sober," Ward said. "This is a huge issue for our community."

With long wait lists for the existing detox spaces in Fraser Valley
facilities, it can take three weeks to get in, Ward said. When she
needed help through the local detox unit, it was because she couldn't
go off the drugs on her own.

"I needed to be monitored and kept in a safe environment," she wrote
in her letter to The Progress this week. "It is very important in our
community that people get the help that they need."

Ward argued the budget shortfall "will never replace" the thousands of
lives that Chilliwack detox has actually saved.

She's not alone in that sentiment.

The mayor's committee on health also felt the closure of the 10-bed
detox unit was "ill-advised," said committee chair Diane Janzen.

The committee turned to Chilliwack city council and asked it to
actively lobby for the retention of the detox unit at CGH. Council in
turn passed a series of resolutions Monday asking Fraser Health to
define some options around doing just that.

"We're saying let's look at a range of options because we believe we
absolutely have to have community detox in Chilliwack," she said.

With more than 550 people going through the unit every year, it's an
issue of great concern for Chilliwack, Janzen said. And because of the
nature of addiction, some addicts maybe unwilling to seek treatment in
Surrey for example, even if they're provided with transportation.

"That was part of the rationale for setting up the local detox unit in
the first place," Janzen said.

Council voted this week to ask Fraser Health officials to sit down
with professionals in the addiction field as well as from the
community to look at the impacts of the detox closure and to come up
with solutions.

They're also requesting "that Chilliwack be considered as a pilot
city" for new public health programs, and to run them in Chilliwack.

Council is also asking the health authority to "work in a spirit of
cooperation" with Chilliwack to develop a "comprehensive
community-based approach" to addiction in Chilliwack, in part to meet
objectives in the Fraser Valley Homelessness Strategy and Healthy
Community initiatives.

Another idea is for Fraser Health to "cost-share" with Chilliwack RCMP
to provide programs similar to the Car 67 Service in Surrey, where
mental health teams up with an officer to respond to 9-1-1 calls.