Some factors are contributing to a reduction of beds at a Windsor-Essex recovery centre.
Staff at Brentwood Recovery Home in Windsor have been stretched thin due to rising demand for help, various client requirements, and rising costs of essentials brought on by inflation. To that end, the centre has reduced its bed capacity from 68 to the current 49, a difference of 19.
Brentwood executive director Elizabeth Dumage told WindsorNewsToday.ca that provincial funding helps keep 43 of those beds available.
"Right now, the funding that we receive from the Ministry of Health leaves us short a little more than a million dollars a year to cover all of the costs," said Dumage.
Those costs include the additional nurses Brentwood has hired to keep up with the demand, as well as food and building maintenance.
The reduction in available beds at Brentwood is another setback for addiction services in Windsor-Essex. The SafePoint safe consumption site in downtown Windsor is currently shuttered, due to funding being held up by a provincial review. It was not immediately clear how that issue has impacted Brentwood.
Dumage also pointed out that client needs have been evolving, making treatment more challenging.
"We're dealing with people who have really complex illness and complex disease," said Dumage. "We need additional resources. We have to have enough nurses to be able to take care of the volume of people with mental illness."
Brentwood has had conversations with Windsor-Essex MPPs. Dumage added that there may be encouraging news on the horizon, with the provincial government placing additional resources into how these treatment centres can operate with the right amount of funding.
Regardless of that plan, Dumage said there needs to be some form of change, as the current model is not working.
"We've got young people dying from this disease," said Dumage. "We've got to do something differently."
-with files from Adelle Loiselle