Call for facility continues
Town hall meeting to discuss mental health/addictions set for Glace Bay
The push for a mental health and addictions facility in the Cape Breton Regional Municipality is coming to Glace Bay.
To that end, the A Town That Cares group will hold a public meeting at the Glace Bay fire hall on Tuesday at 7 p.m.
The group was spearheaded by Buddy Penney and John Bisson after the death of Penney’s nephew Evan Webber in May.
Penney said Webber had been seeking help for a drug addiction but kept running into delays and a lack of resources.
A town hall meeting on the subject was recently held in New Waterford and drew several hundred people.
Penney said the objective of the meeting was to get the community involved, to set up a platform towards seeing a mental health/addiction centre in the municipality.
Penney said they want people to realize the desperate need for this facility, to realize mental health/addictions problems are everywhere.
“Through the summer we will be going to as many places as we can — Membertou, Sydney, North Sydney, Sydney Mines and Sydney River,” he said.
“We also want to go into the rural communities if the interest is there.”
Penney said the A Town That Cares committee has grown and now includes a doctor and Buddy Penney, a founder of the A Town That Cares group, stands in front of the Glace Bay fire hall where a meeting will be held on Tuesday to discuss the need for a mental health/addictions facility in the Cape Breton Regional Municipality. a nurse.
“Once we have the professional people who can get things done involved, John and I will step back and let them take over,” he said. “We’ll do the legwork and be there for support but we want them to run things.”
Penney said people battling addictions are expected to address the Glace Bay meeting. He is also expecting several politicians to be on hand.
Penney said the committee is advocating for the centre to be built in Membertou and hopes to have a meeting with Chief Terry Paul.
“That’s where we want to see the treatment centre built as it’s central, a perfect location.”