Lytzki dream realised

IT has been three years since Rob Lytzki first raised the need for a drug rehabilitation facility specifically for women.

The program director at notfor-profit drug and alcohol rehabilitation centre Foundation 61, Mr Lytzki said in May 2015 that there was a desperate need for a women’s centre to cater for the escalating ice addiction problem.

At the time the Salvation Army said there was a six-week waiting list for urgent drug withdrawal help, and Mr Lytzki said he could have a 10bed female rehab centre up and running for only $1.5 million.

In the days following his appeal for help, more than 2200 people signed a petition asking for more government-funded rehab beds and Corangamite MP Sarah Henderson took up the fight, leading to a Federal Government-led ice summit on the issue.

But despite a parade of Federal and State politicians passing through Foundation 61 in the ensuing months, it took a full year for any government money to be allocated to building a women’s facility, with $1.5 million pledged in the 2016 Federal Budget.

Now Mr Lytzki can finally see his dream realised with Foundation 61 securing land at Mt Duneed to build a new eightbed women’s clinic, which will also include facilities for children.

He says the new clinic will literally change the lives of local women in need, with most women’s rehab services located near the state border, and most unable to house children.

After years of having to send women away, Mr Lytzki is excited at the prospect of being able to help more people.

But it is another example of something that experts determined a need for, and the community has shown desire for, that has taken far too long to come to fruition.

While the community of Armstrong Creek continue to wait for a fire station planned eight years ago, so, too, our locals have been forced to wait too long for a crucial rehabilitation facility.