PLANS AFOOT FOR ADDICTIONS TREATMENT CENTRE IN HAT

Plans For An Addictions Treatment Centre In Medicine Hat Are Afoot But
Still Very Preliminary.

Palliser Health Region chair Carol Secondiak met with Calgary MLA Dave
Rodney, the chairman of the Alberta Alcohol and Drug Abuse Commission
(AADAC), in Edmonton on Wednesday to talk about getting a treatment centre
here.

They also met with the Alberta Mental Health chair about the centre, said
Secondiak.

She's hoping if the centre is built it will create a three-way partnership
with the region, AADAC, and Alberta Mental Health.

Previously the region was told that Red Deer was first priority for a
centre and now their centre construction is underway.

"They know we have a problem," said Secondiak. "They are going to work with
our planning people."

She said the partnership will be good because often times individuals that
are addicts may also have a mental illness.

Secondiak acknowledged that addicts need a place to go for recovery and
there aren't enough hospital beds to keep them long enough.

"Treatment from addiction takes a long time," she said, adding it also
costs a fair bit of money.

Often times patients end up in "active treatment beds," but those are
needed for other procedures. Brooks is also facing this issue, she added.

As population increases, Secondiak believes the problems are likely to
increase.

Ron Fromm, executive director for Southern Alcare Manor, a substance abuse
recovery centre in Lethbridge, hopes Medicine Hat gets the centre.

Alcare is a 25-bed recovery facility for addicts. Fromm says it's always
full, with a waiting list just as long.

"We do have a lot of people coming from Medicine Hat," he said.

He said "absolutely," when asked if a treatment centre is needed here,
because there are people suffering all over from addiction and they need
all the support they can get.

"You would have plenty of people seeking you service," he said, adding the
addictions community is a small one.

Numbers and statistics of addicts in the region will still need to be
worked out during the planning stages for the centre in Medicine Hat.

It used to be alcoholics that came to the facility to recover, but Fromm
says drugs now create the most addictions.

Fromm said the goal of their facility is to "help people put their lives
back together."

He said the recovering addicts usually come through detox and then a
treatment program before they get to Alcare.

They are allowed to stay up to 90 days, but are not forced to.

He notes that addiction is difficult to overcome and people can't do it alone.

"It's nice to give them the help they need."