THUNDER BAY — “There is a real need,” St. Joseph’s Care Group vice president Andrea Docherty says of a new substance abuse recovery resource they’re offering.
The healthcare organization officially opened seven new safe sobering beds at its location at 500 Oliver Road Monday morning.
The beds are a place where people 16 and older and who are intoxicated or under the influence of other substances can voluntarily go to sober up, get a full medical assessment and have access to other resources, like connections to treatment options, mental health supports, other social services and a range of Indigenous-focused supports and resources.
“It's really important for us to be able to focus on the safety of our community, and right now people who are publicly intoxicated and need some support while they sober up are often using services of our emergency department and occasionally our jails,” said Docherty, who is St. Joseph’s vice president of clinical and community health.
“So, this provides a much-needed service for our community.”
St. Joseph’s officials said that these types of services were among recommendations that came out of a 2022 coroner’s inquest into the deaths of two people: Roland McKay and Donald Mamakwa. The inquest jury and the families of the two men heard how numerous failures led to their deaths while in police custody, both arrested for public intoxication.
Mamakwa, who was from Kasabonika Lake First Nation, died on Aug. 3, 2014, while McKay, who was from Kitchenuhmaykoosib Inninuwug, died on July 19, 2017.
“Throughout this process, their families and their legacy have been in our hearts and our minds,” Docherty said on Monday. “Really, this was a collection of over 30 community organizations supporting those recommendations and getting us to where we are today.”
The safe sobering beds are intended to be used for short-term use, Docherty said, with the ability for patients to have access to further supports.
“They'll be monitored on a regular and ongoing basis,” she said of how the initiative will work. “We expect people to stay up to 24 hours depending on their needs, but what's really important is we'll be able to connect them with services once their stay is done.”
“It's a warm, safe place for someone to recover.”
Construction continues with what is effectively a “site swap” of some services St. Joseph’s offers, Docherty said. The Oliver Road site, where the safe sobering beds are located, will also be home to eight more of those beds by this summer, pending the completion of construction. It is also the site of St. Joseph’s withdrawal management programming.
Last December, the withdrawal management program moved from its former location on Sibley Drive. St. Joseph’s Crossroads live-in recovery home will be moving from Oliver Road to the Sibley Drive property.
“We've done extensive renovations to make sure that the space is purpose built,” she said of the work being done to the Oliver Road property for the safe sobering beds and withdrawal management. “Once all of those renovations are done and then the programs are in their forever future homes, we’ll be able to expand those … eight beds.”
