‘A better way of life’: Ochapawese Stabilization Center aims to bridge the gap between detox and treatment
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After a year of hurt and pain, a group of people gathered this week on the Ochapowice First Nation for a ribbon cutting to mark a new, hopeful beginning.
It was a time of celebration for the community after a time of pain, Chief Shelley Beare said in an interview with CBC News.
“We have experienced some losses of individuals that were quite significant and really broke our country,” he said, adding that many of those losses were due to drug abuse.
“They weren’t getting the help they needed at home,” Baer said. “We had to get them somewhere else.”
Everyone living in the community, located about 150 kilometers east of Regina, was on the same page: they didn’t want another friend or family member to die. So the leaders decided to try a new approach to stop the cycle of addiction.
YC Hi, meaning Helping Hands, is a stabilization center for people who have completed detox and are waiting for a place in a treatment center.
It will offer around-the-clock care, and patients can stay for up to two weeks with access to health care, medical and spiritual care.
“If they’re not ready to come back home or integrate into the country, we bring them here,” Baer said.
He said the building being used for the center was previously a group home for young children.
“If we help our parents we won’t need group homes for our young children,” he said.
“Help our people so (they) can go back and have good, strong, healthy families, help them get their two-feelings back. And that’s what this place was meant to be.”
The drug epidemic has deeply affected many Saskatchewan communities. People living on Ochapowes First Nation say they are tired of watching friends and family members die. So they are trying something new to stop the cycle of addiction.
Difference between detox and treatment
Patricia Thomson, Ochapaw’s health director, has worked closely with leaders to bridge the gap in the system between detox and treatment.
He said the process began with being able to clearly identify what stability looks like for patients during that period.
“(It’s) a place for them to be safe and build their confidence, their independence, their commitment to their sobriety, their commitment to a better lifestyle for 14 days,” Thomson said.
It’s no surprise, he said, that many people who seek treatment are not successful.
“They go for treatment for 14 days, then they go back to the same environment they came from.”
With the new facility, “They come here, we prepare them for treatment,” Thomson said.
Wī ci hi will officially open to patients on February 1, starting with four patients. There will then be a short break to allow leaders to make any necessary improvements or changes.
Thomson said she hopes the center will be at full capacity with 18 patients by the spring.
He said there will be a fee to stay at the center, but leaders are still working out the details.
The Ochapawese are using their own money to finance the center, with the hope that the government will eventually step in to help. Beers said the community also hopes to build a new treatment center down the road.
“We have suffered too much trauma and loss. We need to start today.”
