Pubdate: Tue, 26 Apr 2005 Source: Abbotsford Times (CN BC) Copyright: 2005 The Abbotsford Times Contact: http://www.abbotsfordtimes.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1009 Author: Christina Toth Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/rehab.htm (Treatment) DETOX, SUPPORT BEDS FILL GAPS IN ADDICTIONS SERVICE Nine drug and alcohol detox that may be open by mid-May at Chilliwack General Hospital will bring addiction services closer to home and help get people into treatment sooner. In addition, six support and recovery beds for women and six more for men should be open in Abbotsford in May, said Sherry Mumford, Fraser Heath Authority advisor on mental health and addictions. All of these new beds will open to those in the FHA region. "I'm excited and I look forward to announcing this site is open and that site is open. It's been a long time coming. We're making some gains here, we're filling the gaps," she said Friday. Mumford said the FHA is hiring staff and pushing to have a mid-May opening. For more than two years, FHA addiction and mental health services have been working closely together to respond to the increasingly complex needs of those with addictions, she said. There is more polydrug use, or use of several street and pharmaceutical drugs, by addicts than in the past, and addictions are often complicated by mental health conditions, said Mumford. To this end, the FHA put the detox beds in a hospital setting where clients are close to medical support. "It's a new model. It provides us with the opportunity to deal with people who have medically compromised conditions, such as bleeding ulcers," said Mumford. Putting the detox beds in Chilliwack also brings services closer to those who can't travel to the New Westminster Maple Cottage detox clinic. While the funding is for 10 beds, there is room for only nine on the floor the detox unit shares with the subacute care ward. The detox unit may move to another site in the hospital. Kinghaven will add the men's support and treatment beds to their services in the first week of May. The Elizabeth Fry Society has the contract to manage the women's support and treatment beds but were still working on a location in Abbotsford, Mumford said. The new detox beds will bring the FHA total to 35 beds. One of the beds in Chilliwack will be a swing bed available for youth, those under 19. Maple Cottage has 25 beds, with up to four of those set aside for youth. When Maple Cottage moves to Surrey next fall, it will have six beds set aside for youth in their own segregated setting with programs geared for that age group, said Mumford. The FHA is also looking at establishing a youth residential treatment facility, said Mumford. Currently, the FHA has about seven outpatient clinics for youth in the Fraser East region in communities from Mission to Hope. - --- MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom