NDP follows through on vow to reopen Riverview
But system’s net gain is only 11 beds, as hospital replaces Burnaby facility
The B.C. government will reopen the Riverview psychiatric hospital in Coquitlam as a 105-bed, mentalhealth and addiction-wellness centre, but the B.C. Schizophrenia Society believes losing the beds at the Burnaby Centre for Mental Health and Addiction is unfortunate.
The new centre is expected to open in late 2019, replacing the current Burnaby Centre for Mental Health and Addiction. The new centre, which was already promised by the former Liberal government in 2015, adds only 11 beds.
The society’s Jean Fong said inadequate housing and support has left many people with mental illness in a crisis situation, resulting in significant costs for the province’s emergency services.
The society’s clients face a “revolving door” when seeking help, she said. “They’re doing well, they’re not doing so well. They’re repeatedly admitted and discharged from acute care because they’re not getting enough support.”
Premier John Horgan agreed that more than 11 extra beds are needed to deal with the escalating opioid crisis in the province, but said more beds would have caused delays in opening. He added that the government may expand the centre at the Riverview site in the future.
Horgan says the $101-million centre will create “a new beginning” for wellness and healing at the Riverview lands. Horgan was joined Friday morning by Mental Health and Addictions Minister Judy Darcy and Housing Minister Selina Robinson, as well as First Nations members, at the site of the now-closed Riverview Hospital in Coquitlam.
“People afflicted by mental illness and addiction need better support and care. We’re getting to work to fix the problems and give people the help they need,” said Horgan. “Today’s groundbreaking is an important step toward improving mental-health and addictions-treatment services in British Columbia.”
Darcy said the “state-of-the-art facility” will focus on the enormous challenge of treating those who are struggling with mentalhealth addiction. She said the government’s focus is to tackle B.C.’s opioid crisis.
“There is an opportunity for the Riverview site to become a hub for patients, families, health-care workers, researchers and the local community to come together to address mental-health and substance-use challenges,” she said.
The NDP’s announcement Friday follows on the former Liberal government’s plan in 2015 to invest $175 million to revamp the Riverview lands into a mixed-use community hub for mental-health care. The plan involved constructing two new buildings on the 244acre site and relocating three mental-health and substance-abuse programs from Burnaby.
The government says the centre will feature individual rooms and therapeutic design elements to support recovery, such as healing spaces, natural light, Indigenous artwork and views of the Riverview lands.
Fong said the organization is generally encouraged by the provincial government’s recommitment to funding, as well as its focus on community and family supports at the centre.
Craig Hodge, a Coquitlam city councillor who chairs the Riverview Lands Advisory Committee, said the city has long been advocating for the return of mental-health services to the site.
Council is pleased with the provincial government’s reaffirmation of the previous government’s commitment, he said.
Hodge said there’s a need for centralized mental-health services and while the expansion currently adds only 11 more beds, the establishment of purpose-built facilities will increase the quality of care. He hopes adding even more beds, buildings and services are part of Darcy’s plan.
“There’s lots of room there — there’s 244 acres — so there’s certainly lots of space,” he said.
Hodge said the popular filming location will continue to serve the local movie and TV industry, which generates revenue that offsets the cost of maintaining the buildings and grounds.
A psychiatric hospital and other mental-health facilities have been located on the property for nearly 100 years, but the lands have been mostly vacant since Riverview Hospital closed five years ago.
When the Hospital for the Mind opened in 1913, it housed 340 male patients. The name was later changed to Essondale and then Riverview Hospital. Riverview reached a peak population in 1955 of 4,726 patients and about 2,200 staff.
Also in the ’50s, the first psychiatric drug, chlorpromazine, was used, replacing shock-treatment therapy for severe depression and lobotomies for schizophrenia, mania and psychotic disorders.
In 2002, it was decided Riverview would eventually be phased out in favour of community-based psychiatric treatment. It finally closed in 2012.
During the B.C. provincial election campaign earlier this year, Horgan pledged to reopen the mental-health facility at Riverview.
People afflicted by mental illness and addiction need better support and care.