Pubdate: Thu, 31 Jan 2008
Source: Winnipeg Free Press (CN MB)
Copyright: 2008 Winnipeg Free Press
Contact: http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/info/letters/index.html
Website: http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/502
Author: Aldo Santin

PROVINCE SCRAPS REHAB LOCATION

St. Vital Residents Object To St. Amant Site

New facility still needed to treat young addicts

By Aldo Santin THE Health department has bowed to pressure from a 
group of St. Vital residents and cancelled plans to locate a rehab 
centre for severely addicted young people on the St. Amant grounds.

Yvonne Block, executive director of mental health, addictions and 
spiritual health for Health Manitoba, said the department is looking 
for another site somewhere in the city for the innovative program, 
operated by staff from Marymound, known as the youth addictions 
stabilization unit.

"We made that decision (Wednesday) to respect the wishes of the 
community," Block said, adding that a large number of residents 
living close to the St. Amant grounds had been complaining about the 
project for the past three months.

The province planned to build a one-storey, 7,535 square-foot 
building on a portion of St. Amant's expansive grounds. St. Amant, a 
resource and residential cenre that provides programs for people with 
developmental disabilities, is located on the banks of the Red River, 
off River Road and south of Bishop Grandin Boulevard.

The proposed structure was to provide a locked, seven-day, drying-out 
facility for kids aged 12 to 17 years of age whose parents have 
obtained a court order to send them for treatment.

The objective of the program is to get kids off their addictions 
quickly and in a mental state where they can be moved to another 
facility for long-term treatment.

Nancy Cooke, a local resident, said she was pleased that the province 
cancelled the location.

Cooke said area residents had conducted an intense lobbying effort, 
contacting area New Democrat MLAs and cabinet ministers Christine 
Melnick (water stewardship) and Kerri Irvin-Ross (healthy living) and 
members of the PC caucus.

Marymound, a private, non-profit agency providing a range of 
therapeutic and educational services to young people and their 
families, has been running the program out of a 100-year-old building 
for the past year, where it treated 150 youths. But Marymound said 
the building is inadequate, with an outdated heating and ventilation 
system and with problems ensuring security.

Marymound proposed leasing land from St. Amant but residents opposed 
the plan, expressing concern over potential threats from youths who 
might escape from the new facility and fears of drug dealers coming 
into the neighbourhood.

The St. Amant property is zoned residential and the site needed to be 
rezoned and a variance granted to allow it to be constructed closer 
than regulations allow to another youth treatment centre.

An appearance before the Board of Adjustment in mid-January was 
changed to next week but Block said the application will now be withdrawn.

Block said the province, which is funding the program, remains 
committed to it. "We want to find another site as soon as possible," 
Block said.

Gwenda Nemerofsky, spokeswoman for Marymound, said the lease at the 
current site expires in June, adding she expects it will have to be 
extended until a new location can be secured.
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MAP posted-by: Keith Brilhart