Grey County has been asked to contribute $1 million towards the creation of a one-of-a-kind addictions and mental health treatment centre in Owen Sound.
At its meeting on April 13, county council received a delegation from representatives of Grey Bruce Health Services about the hospital corporation’s plans for a $25 million renovation to a former public school in Owen Sound to become a state-of-the-art mental health and addictions treatment centre.
Grey Bruce Health Services CEO Gary Sims, Director of Mental Health and Addictions Services Naomi Vodden and CEO of the Owen Sound Regional Hospital Foundation Amy McKinnon spoke to council about the project.
The hospital corporation is renovating the former Bayview Public School in Owen Sound into a 45-bed mental health and addictions treatment facility. The treatment centre will offer a wide variety of programs and supports for mental health and addictions patients. The project includes 17 long-term beds to help patients in recovery. The delegation’s full presentation to council can be found here.
“This model is the first of its kind in Canada,” said Sims, who explained that the hospital corporation has been navigating the system between four different provincial ministries over the past couple of years to get the project off the ground. “We’re really hopeful we can help people have a safe environment to continue the program.”
The project will cost an estimated $25 million. The hospital corporation has $10 million in existing funds and must raise $15 million in the community. The goal is to have the facility open this fall.
The delegation asked council to consider making a $1 million donation to the project. Sims said the project has received approval from the province and is fully funded from an operational perspective. He said Grey Bruce Health Services would borrow money for the initial capital costs if required.
The programs that will be offered at the treatment centre will be funded by OHIP, which makes the project unique in Ontario. Most treatment centres are based on a fee-for-service model.
“This really is transformative. It’s really groundbreaking,” said McKinnon.
Members of county council were generally supportive of the project. The county has a health care funding policy in place that requires any health care related requests for county support to come to council before June 1 to be included in the following year’s budget deliberations. The county sets aside money in reserve each year for such requests. CAO Kim Wingrove said staff would bring a full report to council in the near future.
The Blue Mountains Mayor Andrea Matrosovs asked if it was possible to quantify how the treatment centre, once it’s operating, would help save resources overall in the local health care system. Matrosovs noted that if a patient is receiving treatment at the centre, they would not be making visits to the emergency room or being treated/transported to the hospital by paramedics.
“How can we add those numbers up and compare them to the ($1 million) request?” she asked.
Sims said similar treatment centres operate in Europe and are successful. He said he could get more data from the ministry and added that the need is critical.
“If we don’t act and we don’t do it - this problem gets worse,” said Sims. “Lives are at stake every day.”
