Save Ottawa Detox

The Ottawa Withdrawal Management Centre (Detox) which has been in operation for 30 years, is scheduled to close on October 1st, 2004 due primarily to a lack of financial commitment by the Ministry of Health and Long Term Care.
The operational budget of the Detox Centre has not increased over the past 10 years and our sponsor, the SCO Health Service, is no longer able to support a Centre which runs a deficit. Since the Ministry of Health provides substandard funding to our service it has been impossible thus far to find a hospital willing to sponsor our Centre, and therefore the closure of Detox is imminent.
The Detox Centre is a 20 bed, bilingual facility where drug and alcohol addicted men and women can undergo detoxification, assessment and referral to treatment centres. There are 2,800 admissions a year and another 1,000 are turned away due to lack of bed space. Detox is a critical service in Ottawa and the surrounding area including Cornwall, Arnprior, Pembroke and Renfrew. Detox services save the system hundreds of thousands of dollars annually in hospital admissions and police and ambulance involvement.
In signing this petition we call for the Ministry of Health to take immediate action and increase the budget of the Detox Centre to a funding level that will ensure the sustainability of this essential community service. We also request that this take effect without forcing the Detox Centre to endure a closure or any type or interruption of service. Keeping the Detox Centre open is literally a matter of life and death.