Heather Latter
Fort Frances Tribal Area Health Services Inc. is aware of the high need for a detox facility in the area and soon will be submitting a proposal to the government for annualize funding for the project.
Lori Flinders, director of Behavioural Health Services with FFTAHS, noted that in a recent strategic planning session, the 10 First Nation communities in the Rainy River catchment identified barriers to accessing health care, withdrawal management, and treatment services for their members.
“They stated that FFTAHS behavioural health services are utilized by their community members regularly and the need for a detox in the region is high priority,” Flinders noted in the executive summary that was presented to the Rainy River District Substance Abuse Prevention Team earlier this month.
She indicated several communities have initiated treatment programs due to the severity of addictions in the region, but the majority still require a local detox for their members seeking treatment.
“The Fort Frances region has a high population of those with or at risk of substance addiction and no detox services located in the region,” Flinders stressed.
“The result is high costs for Fort Frances and surrounding communities to send their clients for treatment outside of the region because detox services are not available locally.”
FFTAHS executive director Calvin Morrisseau noted there are detox facilities in Kenora, Dryden, and Thunder Bay but not in Fort Frances or Rainy River District.
“I don’t know if anyone has been willing to take it on,” Flinders conceded. “But we have the ability, the capability, and the willingness.
“What we need is the resources.”
The FFTAHS will be submitting a proposal to the Northwest Local Health Integration Network (LHIN) sometime next month.
“I’m not sure how they are going to receive it,” Morrisseau remarked.
“Right now the government is really tight for money so I think one of the things we are trying to do with this proposal is to demonstrate how such a facility would actually save both the federal and provincial government money,” he noted.
Morrisseau said they are looking for annualize funding of about $800,000.
“The Rainy River District has not been an area where the LHIN and Ministry of Health and Long-term Care have been overly financially-supportive in the last number of years,” he added.
“It’s just something that they are now looking at additional services that they can provide.”
Morrisseau said at a recent joint meeting with the LHIN, withdrawal management services was an area they discussed.
“They seemed interested in looking at it as a possible service that we might deliver in this area,” he remarked.
“That’s not a commitment but definitely something that they were willing to look at.”
Flinders said they have plenty of support for the proposal, including nine letters from external service providers, as well as support from the 10 First Nations’ communities in the area.
The letters of support are from the Treaty #3 Police, Rainy River District Substance Abuse Prevention Team, Kenora-Rainy River Districts Child and Family Services, United Native Friendship Centre, Canadian Mental Health Association, local MPP Sarah Campbell, Riverside Health Care Facilities, Inc., Northwestern Health Unit, and Weechi-it-te-win Family Services.
“The Rainy River District Substance Abuse Prevention Team has agreed to be our advisory committee,” Flinders added.
“We haven’t fleshed any of that out . . . but they are behind us 100 percent,” she stressed.
She added a new detox facility in the Rainy River catchment area would address withdrawal management disparities that are prominent in the region.
“Service providers and First Nation frontline workers have identified the need for detox services for Fort Frances with increased cultural competency in the delivery of mental health and addictions services,” Flinders noted, though saying the detox facility would serve both the aboriginal and non-aboriginal populations, aged 18 years and up.
“How do you turn someone away who is dying from an illness?” asked Morrisseau.
Both stressed a local detox facility would be a positive addition to the community.
“It will really benefit our community so that people wouldn’t have to be transported,” Flinders said.
“Right now, if someone here has to be sent to detox, they have to go to Kenora, Dryden, or Thunder Bay—so just getting them there can be a barrier,” echoed Morrisseau.
“Ontario has a real commitment right now to break down barriers so let’s break them down.
“People going out to utilize services is really high,” Morrisseau added. “So anything that centralizes the services in our area is going to improve the success rates among people who are actively seeking help.”
In the executive summary report, Flinders noted that in 2007-08, 56 percent of this district’s provincial treatment population was aboriginal, according to the Drug and Alcohol Treatment Information System.
Seventy-six percent of these clients had to go outside of the district to access provincial addiction services while only 17 percent of this population successfully completed treatment.
“To have the services at home would be so much more cost-effective, meaningful, and sustainable,” Flinders said.
“It would benefit family wellness because I don’t think there is anyone in our town who hasn’t, in some way, been impacted or touched by addictions issues, whether it’s in their immediate family, extended family, close friends,” she added.
“So it really is a positive for the community.”
Flinders said utilizing the current infrastructure of the FFTAHS, withdrawal management treatment services would enhance the existing continuum of care model practiced in the Rainy River catchment area.
They are proposing the detox services be available 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days per year, with the length of stay for the treatment being 28 days.
“The FFTAHS detox treatment services will not, at this time, be a medical detox and would not include methadone or suboxone programs,” Flinders noted.
She admitted securing government funding for a detox facility will take time.
“If we hear anything before Christmas, I’ll be happy,” Flinders remarked, saying the LHIN might come back to the FFTAHS wanting more information about things like start-up costs and location.
“If those questions do come back, we know that that is a positive sign,” she reasoned.
Morrisseau, meanwhile, vowed they plan to be vocal in order to let the government know a detox facility is needed here.
He added other alternatives are available, but right now this is what they are proposing and they hope the government will come through.
