NORTH VANCOUVER
District firefighters had
to pull a car that had
flipped onto its side
(top photo) over onto
its roof (photo bottom
left), then upright again
(photo bottom right) to
get it onto the road so
it could be towed. The
Honda went off the
yoad at Dollarton and
Riverside and struck
the support wire of a
power pole, causing it
to flip on its side. The
driver was uninjured.

Terry

Psychiatric patient pressure builds on N. Shore
Local social services grappling with a 300% jump in case-loads

LOCAL SOCIAL services are dealing with an increasing
number of psychiatric patients as the effects of a Ministry
of Health initiative to downsize the Riverview mental
health care facility are felt throughout regional com-

munities.

Recently, Greater Vancouver
Regional Hospital District
(GVRHD) staff recommended to
the GVRD board hospital com-
mittee that ‘‘current stakeholders
in the mental health fieid’’ should
work to:

@ increase the availability of af-
fordable housing and residential
care;

® improve local service coordina-
tion;

@ and increase resources for the
police to handle psychiatric pa-
tients.

The GVRHD report notes that
in North Vancouver, the transfer
of those in need of psychiatric
care to Lions Gate Hospital rather
than to Riverview, increases their
length of stay at LGH.

According to the report, the
North Shore Community Mental
Health Centre, a support centre
for seriously mentally ill people
who are unable or unwilling to
receive help elsewhere, handled
100 chronic cases in 1989,

In 1991 the mental health centre
listed 400 chronic cases — a 300%
case-load increase.

Meanwhile the North Van-
couver RCMP psychiatric case
load is up by over 68%, from 148
in 1989 to an estimated 250 in
1990. Police are experiencing in-

By Michae! Becker
News Reporter

creased psychiatric-related vio-
lence at LGH and throughout the
community.

Police respond to incidents that
invlude the search for wandering
patients, attempted suicides, peo-
pie ‘‘exhibiting strange behavior,”
family crisis intervention and
assisting LGH in the management
of psychiatric patients.

In West Vancouver, Barbara
Davies operates Co-Pro. The
support services agency provides a
free clothing exchange, household
furnishings, home visits and
emergency transporation to low
income and handicapped people
living on the North Shore.

Davies is assisting an increasing
number of people with psychiatric
problems in the wake of the
Riverview downsizing.

Said Davies, “It’s been like a
flood. I can’t give you statistics,
but [ know I am very busy. They
drift around, and the resources we
have aren’t adequate. It’s great to
let Riverview go, but you have to
have the means within the com-
munity.

“Most of them need food sup-

MEDICAL Health Officer Dr.
Brian O’Connor... ‘‘Mental
health is a huge problem in
this urban area.”’

port. And a lot of them drift
around. In the summertime they
might move all the way from
Hope, through the city to
Squamish,”’ she added.

Davies said she tries to en-
courage those she sees to go to the
hospital and have their medication
adjusted.

“When it is not adjusted they
fight doing anything for
themselves,”’ she said.

Davies also runs an emergency
food bank and often feeds people
from her car.

**They know my car and we
have an outlet in the North Shore

Neighborhood House,’’ she said.

Davies believes the real answer
to the question of how to support
psychiatric patients better is found
in the availability of affordable
accommodation and a proper diet.

“When you have those two
things going, they are not so resis-
tant to get help,’’ she said.

Added Davies, ‘‘You build this
relationship with people and try to
help them build a bridge between
the services that there are. But my
heart stops when I think of how
many I don’t meet, and they are
shivering, and they are out there.’’

Meanwhile, North Shore
Health’s medical health officer
Dr. Brian O’Connor, said that
Vancouver support services have
taken most of the pressure of the
demands created by the Riverview
downsizing. But needs are growing
on the North Shore.

A 1987 Ministry of Health draft
plan dealing with the replacement
of Riverview Hospital services
suggested that replacement facili-
ties and services should be made
available within communities prior
to the scaling down of the River-
view facility.

In addition, ‘‘bridge funding’’
was to be made available for the
development of community-based
services.

But said O’Connor, ‘‘There is
no question that money has not
come in profusion to any
jurisidiction, including the Greater
Vancouver mental health services.
There is no question that there are

pressures on existing services.

‘At the end of the day this was
a grand plan that failed to be im-
plemented. People who should be
attended to either at Riverview or
in the community are out in the
streets.

“Iv’s not a very good quality of
life for them. The community
supports are just not in place.
Mental health is a huge problem
in this urban area. It’s a huge
problem for adults and kids as
well — it’s just not very well ad-
dressed.’’

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