A Trail city councillor wants to press Interior Health for further information on publicly-funded substance use treatment and recovery beds in the area.
Thea Hanson said she appreciated a recent letter from the health authority, following up on a presentation to council last month, but felt some answers were lacking.
The letter outlined the work of Axis Family Resources, which manages eight publicly-funded treatment and recovery beds, which don’t currently have any wait times. It also related staffing levels for mental health and addition services, detox, recovery, and psychiatric care. Interior Health said staffing has grow 38 per cent since 2022 and funding has increased 52 per cent for those services.
“This growth demonstrates our ongoing effort to strengthen services and respond to the evolving needs of the community,” the letter said.
Drug checking services were launched on May 1 in Trail to give people information about the substances they are using and reduce risk. As of June 2, five samples had been checked in Trail.
“As anticipated with any new service, uptake has been gradual,” Interior Health said. “We expect sampling to increase as awareness grows and as people become more familiar with the service, particularly through our outreach nurses who share information about the service to clients.”
The letter also discussed how the health authority uses data to identify trends and understand the overall well being of each community, and tracks people through the mental health support system.
However, Hanson said she wants further details about the number of publicly-funded long-term treatment and recovery beds available to Kootenay-Boundary residents, both locally and out of region. Among the things she would like to know:
• The location of those beds.
• The average occupancy rates and use of those beds over the last two years.
• The average wait times for admission to publicly-funded treatment beds and recovery programs.
• The number of referrals made annually from Trail to those beds.
Hanson said her request relates to long-term treatment and recovery beds as opposed to shot-term withdrawal management and detox services.
Mayor Colleen Jones said she was willing to write a follow-up letter and thought it was also worth having a further conversation on the matter at the Union of BC Municipalities convention in the fall.
