$100M for mental health centre
Province to announce transformation of Queen St. site Overhaul aims to provide ‘one-stop shopping’ for patients
The Ontario government will modernize treatment of mental health, drug and alcohol problems with a $100 million redevelopment of the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, the Toronto Star
has learned. The money will be used to help patients get “one-stop shopping” for treatments at the centre’s aging Queen St. campus near Ossington Ave., said a source familiar with the plan to be announced today. It will not only transform the centre but, “ in doing so, transform the way we treat the mentally ill.
“ If you had a mental health problem and an addiction, you’d be going to two centres in two parts of the city with two bureaucracies to deal with now,” said the source, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
“ If you’re in that condition that last thing you need is to be running all over.” The blueprint for the finished project calls for the Queen St. site’s 11 hectares to become an “ urban village” in its own right with a network of streets, buildings and open spaces instead of the current large building constructed in 1977.
Plans also call for the building of apartment-style, in-patient rooms to replace the existing hospital setting, making it easier for patients to integrate into society upon discharge, and to eventually bring in retail stores and restaurants to make the complex more a part of the innercity streetscape and reduce the stigma of mental illness.
“ It’s not your classic One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest
type of ward,” the source said, referring to the Jack Nicholson movie that painted a bleak picture of mental health care. The project and funding will be announced this morning by Public Infrastructure Renewal Minister David Caplan, in charge of financing hospital expansions across the province.
Caplan’s spokesperson Wilson Lee declined comment yesterday but confirmed “ we expect to be delivering some exciting news on mental health.”
During the 2003 election campaign, the Liberals noted that statistics suggest one in five Ontarians will suffer from mental illness at some point and prom
ing news on mental health.”
During the 2003 election campaign, the Liberals cited statistics that suggest one in five Ontarians will suffer mental illness at some point and promised to improve mental health care. The expansion project has been in the works for a couple of years at the centre, created in 1998 by the merger of the Queen St. Mental Health Centre, the Clarke Institute of Psychiatry, Addiction Research Foundation and Donwood Institute. It will integrate the research, health promotion, education and training functions of CAMH at the Queen St. hub. CAMH also has facilities at 26 community locations in Ontario and is affiliated with the University of Toronto.
Experts say the mentally ill and the addicted respond best to treatment in settings that resemble the community.
“ It won’t feel like an institution to people,” said Judy Hills, executive director of the Canadian Psychiatric Research Foundation, calling the expansion long overdue given the lack of resources for mental health treatment over the past decade or so.
“ When beds were closed and people dumped on the streets, the mental health sector was ignored for so long.” The problem with that effort to move people out of mental health hospitals is there weren’t enough community supports in place, resulting in large numbers of homeless, Hills added.
Increasingly, for several years, businesses and decision- makers have realized many physical health problems, such as headaches, immune deficiencies and stomach problems, have their roots in mental health concerns as simple as the stress of daily life or as complex as chemical changes in the brain. The funding spelled out today is for the first phase of a 10- year project. Aside from the “ home- like” setting of the apartment- style units, there will be a rebuilding of in- patient beds for the elderly and 12 new beds for youths.
“ They’re trying to develop different settings for different types of clients so it’s not one-size-fits-all,” the source said. Two years ago, CAMH officials estimated the entire redevelopment project at almost $400 million.