'Please help us to end this nightmare': An addiction support group's plea to the mayor

Addiction and Mental Health Advocates founder and chairperson Donna DeSimon authored a letter to the Sault Ste. Marie Mayor Christian Provenzano on behalf of her grassroots support and advocacy group in order to give him an idea of what it’s like to be dopesick. 

Imagine the worst flu you’ve ever encountered, she wrote the mayor, but with the potential for hallucinations and seizures. Then, there’s the lengthy physical and psychological withdrawal process afterwards. 

It’s going to be extremely difficult for people to go through all of that, DeSimon continued, without the help of a medical detox facility. 

“It is a sad fact that those people that want help are terrified to be ‘dopesick’ and remain in the cursed lifestyles we do not understand,” reads an excerpt from the letter, which was circulated to City Council by the mayor during the Nov. 9 council meeting. “At least with a Level 3 detox facility, clients who require an inpatient setting and 24-hour nursing and medical care to withdraw from their substance of abuse, have a chance of achieving sobriety and a better chance of a successful recovery.” 

It was no coincidence that the letter highlighting the need for a Level 3 withdrawal management facility was sent just before Sault Area Hospital officials made their presentation to City Council about the expansion of the hospital's mental health and addictions services. 

DeSimon says that the hospital has some “good things” in the works with plans to launch a mobile community wellness bus and a day treatment program for concurrent disorders.

But she’s not sure if all of the work being done to expand the hospital’s mobile harm reduction services calls for a scaled-back proposal for a 24-bed withdrawal management facility in the Sault. The original ask to the province was for a 33-bed facility. 

“24 beds, I guess, is better than nothing. Unfortunately, we just have to settle for less,” DeSimon told SooToday earlier this week. “What’s happening is they’re settling for less than they need, and I’m sure that they’re all accustomed to that - I mean, always being second to last, if not last.”

Addiction and Mental Health Advocates hosts peer support group meetings once a week, bringing together family members of those affected by addictions issues. 

DeSimon often hears stories at those meetings about people living with addiction who have fallen through the cracks, unable to get into treatment when they want it.    

“A three-year plea by the City of Sault Ste. Marie and its healthcare partners, who have repeatedly asked the province to fund a Level 3 withdrawal management facility for the community, remains unanswered,” reads the letter from DeSimon to the mayor. “What do we have to do to be heard? How many more loved ones do we have to lose? The suffering and agony that has permeated our community because of this epidemic has gone on for far too long. Every day on social media, we are astounded by another overdose.” 

“Please help us to end this nightmare.”