Family of B.C. man killed by toxic drugs donates $20M to treatment program | 24CA News
Jill Diamond says when her brother Steven was combating substance habit the system meant to help him was messy and stuffed with delays, disappointments and waitlists.
After years throughout which extended durations of sobriety had been punctuated with the ache of habit, she says her athletic, loving and useful brother was placed on a waitlist to see an habit psychiatrist.
He died in 2016 from a fentanyl overdose lower than per week earlier than the appointment.
“Some people say the system is simply broken. But the truth is, the system we need doesn’t even exist,” she mentioned.
The Diamond household, well-known for his or her philanthropy across the province, is donating $20 million in direction of a brand new mannequin for addictions therapy based mostly out of Vancouver’s St. Paul’s Hospital.
Called Road to Recovery, the 95-bed program goals to streamline the method for somebody working their manner via withdrawal administration, inpatient recovery-focused care, transitional housing and outpatient therapy.
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“We don’t want people to be forced to endure agonizing waitlists while navigating different resources at different places at different times,” Diamond mentioned on the donation announcement on Monday.
“Instead, we aim to cut weeks or months off waiting lists within a full spectrum of treatment services all in one location — seamless, centralized — setting a new standard across Canada.”
Dr. Seonaid Nolan with Providence Health Care, a program accomplice, mentioned consumption and entry to habit providers might be centralized to enhance communication between service suppliers and referrals might be co-ordinated.
“It’s about increasing treatment capacity, but more importantly, a re-organization and developing a comprehensive co-ordinated treatment system for people so that they can receive the right level of support that they require when needed,” she mentioned.
The province has dedicated $60.9 million over three years towards this system’s working prices.
Fiona Dalton, president of Providence Health Care, mentioned the donation from the Diamond Foundation was a “catalyst” to getting the province on board.
“We were able to go to the government with this really fundamental new way of working and we were able to say, ‘and to enable this we have a commitment from a donor to put all of this money in,’ ” she mentioned.
“And that was really what enabled us to have that conversation.”
The program will embrace 45 beds at St. Paul’s and 50 in close by places.
The first beds, centered on stabilization, are anticipated to open this fall, with the remainder in St. Paul’s accessible inside the subsequent six to 9 months, whereas the beds outdoors the hospital are anticipated inside a 12 months, Dalton mentioned.
Steven Diamond was often known as a giving addictions counsellor and therapeutic massage therapist, his sister mentioned.
Jill Diamond mentioned her brother had skilled and private information of the addictions panorama, in addition to “family means” to pay for restoration.
“The fact that even he couldn’t get well, despite giving his entire life’s effort, shows addiction is a disease that must be looked at medically with new models of care,” she mentioned in an announcement. “That’s what today is about.”
© 2023 The Canadian Press
