It’s amazing to see an individual walk through the door and discover this wonderful establishment
, launches the general manager of Bruce Oake Recovery Centre, Greg Kyllo. The first patients arrived on Tuesday. By next week, there will be a dozen, according to Kyllo.
Two other groups of 12 to 15 people will join their ranks by July, in order to fill the fifty beds available in the establishment.
Each patient will undergo four months of treatment, which will be followed by eight months of follow-up intensive
in the community, says Greg Kyllo.
Just drop a phone call, this is the admission process […] You can start your recovery with just one phone call
, he continues. We really feel the hope in this center
.
Welcoming the first patients marks the end of a long conflict between certain residents and municipal officials who opposed the construction of an addiction treatment center in their community.
The center is named after the late son of Scott Oake, a featured presenter of CBC. Bruce Oake died of a heroin overdose in 2011, and his parents have worked for 10 years to create the facility. They also welcomed some of the first patients on Wednesday.
Demonstration in front of the legislative palace
This occasion coincided with a demonstration of the group Overdose Awareness Manitoba (Manitoba overdose awareness, in French).
Members of the group have deposited around 40 photos of Manitobans carried away by drug overdoses in front of the legislative building, with the ultimate goal of convincing the province to create more drug rehab centers.
This government refuses to listen to us
, laments the group’s co-founder, Arlene Last-Kolb. Her 24-year-old son died of a fentanyl overdose in 2014.
Two years ago, the group launched a petition calling for the establishment of medical detoxification centers in the province. It has obtained more than 5,000 signatures, but the province has still done nothing, according to Arlene Last-Kolb.
Now in Manitoba there is nowhere to go for immediate help
, she argues.
On average, one person has died each day from a drug overdose in the past year in Manitoba, according to data from the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner.
Between January and December 2020, 372 people lost their lives as a result of an overdose in the province, which represents an increase of 87% from 2019. The majority of these deaths are linked to the use of opioids, including fentanyl.
With information from Chloé Dioré de Périgny
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