Sarnia’s mayor wants to light a fire under Ontario’s Health Ministry to get approval to start building a long-awaited 24-bed addictions hub at the city’s hospital.
Sarnia’s mayor wants to light a fire under Ontario’s Health Ministry to get approval to start building a long-awaited 24-bed addictions hub at the city’s hospital.
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A Lambton County council committee this week backed Mayor Mike Bradley’s motion to “ask the health minister to do everything possible to move that project forward.”
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A provincial funding commitment for the 24-bed hub at Bluewater Health was announced in February 2022 after decades of community lobbying. At that time, creating the hub was expected to cost $12.2 million.
Bluewater Health is working through the provincial approval process for its plans to renovate several floors on an unused wing at the Sarnia hospital site for the hub.
Seven interim beds were opened six years ago at the hospital to help manage withdrawal symptoms and co-ordinate with long-term rehabilitation services and support.
Having the 24-bed hub in operation “would be a huge step forward for all of us” dealing with addiction’s impacts on the community, Bradley said.
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“We can’t wait any longer for this to unfold, to get people off the street,” he said.
Addiction is one of the issues contributing to a growing number of individuals experiencing homelessness locally, municipal officials say.
“It’s not Bluewater Health’s fault,” Bradley said of how long it’s taking before work on the hub can begin.
“They’re trapped in what I call the Kremlin bureaucracy of the Ministry of Health,” he said. “We need someone to say, ‘I’m going to be the czar and cut through this and make this happen.’ ”
Warwick Township Mayor Todd Case suggested county officials seek a meeting with the health minister “just to put it on the table and have the discussion.”
“The community is really questioning what is taking so long,” said Sarnia Coun. Brian White.
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“They make these announcements and then years go by, and we still see no action, but we’re seeing the results of the lack of action on the streets.”
“What I’m saying to the province is, ‘You need to up your game on this,’ ” Bradley said.
The committee’s recommendation goes to county council June 5.
Sarnia-Lambton MPP Bob Bailey said he spoke with Premier Doug Ford directly about the hub project and “stressed the importance of starting construction as soon as possible.”
Bluewater Health and its architect submitted renovation drawings in Aprilsaid Jack Vanderveen, Bluewater Health’s facility services and bio-medical engineering director.
“We’ve had some questions back from the ministry,” he said. “Those have been responded to and everything’s back in the ministry’s hands, again.”
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When the ministry will approve that step isn’t known, Vanderveen said. But when it does, the project will move into “detailed design” and preparation of tender documents, which “won’t take long.”
Meanwhile, “we’re doing a ton of work in that building,” to prepare for the renovations, including demolition in areas where the hub will go, installing new electrical feeds, sewage and drainage systems, and sprinkler and fire alarm systems, he said.
“We’re doing a lot of behind the scenes work so that we’re 100 per cent ready to say, ‘Let’s hit the ground running,’ when we get approval to go ahead with the actual construction,” Vanderveen said.
Demands for addictions services at the hospital haven’t been declining, said Donna Morreau, director of mental health and addition. “If anything, they have increased.”
Provincial health officials are supportive of the hub project and she thanked the county committee “for advocating with the ministry to expedite the approval as we are truly ready to begin the project,” she said.
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