Mental Health Division
BROCKVILLE MENTAL HEALTH CENTRE
The battle for excellence
in mental health services
An opinion submitted to the Brockville Recorder and Times
July 20, 2009
In the past few weeks there
has been a lot of talk about the closure of beds at the Brockville Mental
Health Centre (BMHC), and the transfer of services to Ottawa. The Local
Health Integration Network, and unelected, and a publicly unaccountable
body, thinks the solution is to displace these vulnerable clients, and move
services, and money out of the Brockville community. They say the condition
of the building is so deteriorated that millions of dollars are needed to
bring this facility up to standard. We question how the Ontario government
allowed this to happen.
It has been said that OPSEU
should devote resources to a “battle that can be won”.
We say that the battle for excellence in mental health services will
never be conceded. We say it is never pointless to
preserve quality health services, especially for vulnerable people. They
deserve the best care they can get in an environment that they have become
comfortable in…an environment some may even call home.
Dr. Cushman’s comparison of
BMHC to facilities depicted in Cuckoos Nest is repugnant, and does
not merit further attention.
This week
David Caplan, Ontario’s Health Minister divulged that his own family has
been repeatedly touched by mental health issues. We strongly doubt that he
would be in support of the scheme being proposed in Brockville.
Nonetheless
the LHIN’s proposal is to further cut services. We defy those in charge of
delivering these services in Brockville to explain how cutting services will
improve this beleaguered system.
Minister
Caplan should be dismayed that the only solution seems to be to subject the
mental health system to further carelessness and abuse, by closing more
doors, and eliminating the jobs of skilled mental health professionals.
Finally, if
the Ontario government wants to invest money in infrastructure, why not do
it in Brockville? This community has the staff and the experience – which
will all be lost forever if these jobs move to Ottawa. Please don’t insult
us with vague promises of job creation sometime in the “future.” We aren’t
that naïve.
During this
recession, making cuts to health care in smaller communities is not the
answer. Investing in jobs to build a future in an already hard-hit community
is. Brockville deserves quality health care in this community. We wonder why
Dr. Cushman refuses to be an advocate for it.
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