Ross Romano encouraged by growth of grassroots addictions group

Sault Ste. Marie MPP Ross Romano says the growth of a grassroots group aimed at tackling addictions issues could be a part of the solution to the city’s opioid crisis. 

On Thursday, Romano met with Citizens Helping Addicts and Alcoholics Get Treatment (CHAAT) - a group started by Dr. Paul Hergott following an encounter with a home intruder this past summer - to hear the concerns surrounding addictions and mental health from his constituents.  

“We’re here to provide support to you and support you in supporting our community,” said Sault-based lawyer and CHAAT member Jeff Broadbent to Romano during the virtual meeting. “We’re here because you need to know what’s happening back home here.”

“You need to know about the needles on the street, which are a hazard to people. You need to know about vandalism, you need to know about break-and-enters, and you need to know about crime,” he continued. “You need to know about the health consequences of addiction, and it is a health issue.”

Downtown scratched for potential detox location, group says

Hergott, as the acting chairperson for CHAAT, met with Sault Area Hospital Board Chair Sharon Kirkpatrick and first vice-chair Mario Turco Wednesday. He says that he was informed during the meeting that North East Local Health Integration Network has approved the hospital’s submission for a ‘continuum of care medical model detox facility.’ 

He also learned that there’s no plan to place that facility downtown. 

“It’s my understanding there is a detox coming down the tube. The hospital put an application in. They apparently have a building somewhere that’s going to be a renovation,” said Hergott. “Our concern yesterday was it wasn’t downtown, which most people feel a detox should be.”

Romano told CHAAT members that he knows Sault Area Hospital is looking at “one particular location right now” and that the ask from the hospital is for the province to “cover the cost of rent and the food budgets” associated with the location. 

“The flip side argument that has been made to me, which I think has merit, is that if an individual were to come out of detox after several days of being clean, they may be potentially more apt to run into those characters who provide them, or provide people with access to drugs in the downtown core, would they be more removed if it was, let’s say uptown,” Romano said.  

CHAAT member Robert Peace says that in interviewing people in the downtown core to document the growing drug problem - he claims to have visited every ‘crackhouse’ on Gore Street within the past couple of weeks - he knows that a detox facility alone isn't going to cut it.   

“This cannot be a siloed approach to solving the problem - you cannot just build a detox and say, okay, now we’re good,” said Robert Peace. “This is detox, transition, rehab, aftercare.”

Romano told CHAAT members that he’s hosted six cabinet ministers in Sault Ste. Marie with the idea of potentially finding a solution by utilizing the city’s post-secondary institutions. 

He feels there’s been some progress made in “developing a research institute in mental health and addiction, and a training facility” in the Sault that could address a lack of skilled addictions and mental health workers in the north. 

“Even if we had the funding and we created this building, there would be nobody there to staff this place,” said Romano. “In all of northern Ontario, we have one treating psychiatrist. We could have all the beautiful bricks and mortar, we could create these facilities - but if there’s nobody there to service our community, there’s nobody there to work in these facilities, we’ve got a tremendous challenge where we need to address the actual elements of training and research so we can learn more.”

Romano told CHAAT members what he’s seeing from the grassroots group could be a “solution in the making,” but as of right now, there's no word from the province on when the Sault could get a detox facility.  

“If there’s a consolidated group of all of those stories, it’s something that I can rely on when I’m hitting the table up in Toronto to say, I need help for my community, and here’s a story, and here’s another story, and here’s another story,” Romano said. 

The group is calling on the province to make the following improvements: 

• Seven days per week for SAH Addiction Medicine Consult Team, as opposed to five   
• Mental health support in SAH emergency department increased to facilitate around-the-clock service seven day per week
• Increased funding for nurse practitioner at continuum of care medical model detox facility
• Extended hours of operation for Rapid Access Addiction Medicine (RAAM) clinic  

CHAAT will ask city council to support its efforts during a council meeting Jan. 11.