MAYOR STUDIES REHABILITATION PROGRAMS

Grand Forks Mayor Brian Taylor has gone to Cuba to look at a few
different examples of addiction rehabilitation centres. "I'm working
with a government agency in Cuba that does tours and things with
elected officials," Taylor said. He is combining the trip with a
visit to his daughter and her family in Seattle. "There are a couple
in Cuba that are in small towns. There are two in Holquin Province
and then a couple more that they would like to take me to see, old
American hotels that they have converted into drug rehab programs for
patients from all over South America and the United States. I'm
interested in one in particular, but they said that there are a
couple more that are not well publicized that they would like to show
me, so we'll see how that goes."

Taylor is aware of the negative reaction that people have whenever
addiction rehabilitation is mentioned, but he said that the reality
is often different than the perception. "First of all, always put
alcohol in the front: alcohol and drug treatment program. There is a
constant concern that you don't want to be importing problems or
people with problems, but in fact now we are having a lot of trouble
with seniors that are having trouble with medications and various
kinds of addictions, so it is really the people around us that need
that kind of service," Taylor said.

Taylor believes that there could be employment and other benefits to
the community, but he wants to discuss the impact of the facilities
with the local people in Cuba to see if in fact the benefits outweigh
the disadvantages. "I'm hoping that I can look at these small
communities and see the level of employment that they have been able
to achieve in the local community and see what the NIMN (Not In My
Neighbourhood) reaction is," he said. I presume that the clients are
programmed to death for the time they are there, so they're not out
wandering around within the community; they are actually working on
programs for that period of time. They are paying enough money for it."

Taylor said he is paying for the trip himself. "But," he added, "I
would like to pitch Interior Health and the hospital people on this
as something that we should look closer at."