Pubdate: Tue, 12 Oct 2004 Source: Vancouver Courier (CN BC) Copyright: 2004 Vancouver Courier Contact: http://www.vancourier.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/474 Author: Scott Deveau Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/rehab.htm (Treatment) RESIDENTS LEAVE REHAB MEETING WITH STILL UNANSWERED QUESTIONS After the first of two public forums scheduled for a proposed 39-person drug recovery clinic for the mentally ill in South East Vancouver, many nearby residents believe they don't have enough answers. "I was trying to get an idea of who the patients were, if they were committed to getting off drugs and what would happen if they relapsed," said Allan Wong, Vancouver School Board trustee, who attended the meeting Monday night at John Oliver secondary. "[Instead] I walked away with a picture of what some of the members of the community think." About 1,000 people showed at the auditorium of John Oliver, one of two schools within 500 metres of the proposed rehab facility. Some community group representatives came from as far away as Kingsway to show their opposition to the project. The forum was hosted by a panel of representatives from Triage Emergency Services, the Vancouver Coastal Health Authority, the city and other neighbourhood groups. The four-storey recovery shelter near 39th Avenue and Fraser Street would be run by Triage and would serve seriously mentally ill people in the last stages of drug addiction recovery. Two staff members would be at the shelter at all times. Some among the huge turnout felt the panel hosting the forum was unprepared for their questions. Parkash Kumar, president of the John Oliver parent advisory council, said many questions were left unanswered. "Right now, we don't feel as though we have adequate information to make a decision," Kumar said. Representatives of local businesses agreed. "There weren't a lot of good answers given," said Ken Mason, chair of the Fraser Street Merchants Association. "We all recognize [the residents of the shelter] need help, but we're very concerned about the size and the amount of staff they have and that the location is so close to the schools." Some members of the crowd worried about a mob mentality developing. Kimball Cariou, parent of a John Oliver student, said he was blocked before entering the gym by a man who told him he had to sign in. But the "sign-in sheet," Cariou said, turned out to be a petition against the rehab facility. "I think we should examine the project more closely before we make up our minds," said Cariou, who left early when the crowd heckled the speakers. "I was ashamed to be in the crowd and afraid to show any support for the project." Mark Smith, executive director of Triage Emergency Services, said public fear about the project hampered his ability to explain the shelter to the community. "People have this idea that there will be these wildly, psychotic, drug addicts moving into their community," said Smith. Although some of the residents will be suffering from bi-polar disorders and schizophrenia, others will also be suffering from depression, which is also considered a serious mental illness. Smith said those people have turned to drugs to cope with their illness and now want to be free of them. Smith will bring guests, who are involved in Triage programs in other parts of the city, to the next meeting on Oct. 18 to show the community what kind of people will be using the shelter. One of the potential guests is a substitute teacher, the other is doing her PhD in criminology, he said. "It's not as though we're picking these people off the street at Main and Hastings, dusting them off and dropping them in their neighbourhood," Smith said. - --- MAP posted-by: Derek