YORKTON - There are times the best of news still has a dark shadow that comes with it.
Bruno's Place, the10-bed emergency shelter located in the Prairie Harvest Community Centre, has received significant funds to offer a new service to clients. The Saskatchewan Health Authority (SHA) and Bruno's Place have converted six of these shelter beds to short-term detox spaces.
The conversion of bed allocations comes with $335,000 in annual funding from the province, dollars Mental Health and Addictions Minister Everett Hindley said Monday in the city he expects will be ongoing – which it has to be in order to have long term, positive impact.
While the move does seem to drop the number of emergency beds at the centre, Angela Chernoff, Shelter Coordinator suggested there is an overlap that exists between people experiencing homelessness and those experiencing mental health and addictions disorders.
The move to detox beds is seen as a way to enhance care for many people experiencing homelessness who also need detox services.
The converted beds are part of the provincial government's commitment to increase access to detox beds and services across the province and are the first detox beds to be made available in southeast Saskatchewan, explained Hindley at a press conference at the facility Monday.
This all sounds very positive, but it has to be taken with something of a grain of salt.
Let’s start with the issue of homelessness.
Yorkton MLA Greg Ottenbreit referred to a picture of Bruno at the announcement Monday, remarking he was essentially Yorkton’s first widely recognized homeless person – and acknowledged that was years ago.
Yet, the emergency shelter now bearing Bruno’s name has been open for less than a year, begging the question how something as simple as providing a safe bed to sleep in took so long to be established in the city,
And, Bruno’s Pace exists today largely from the local effort of the Prairie Harvest Christian Life Centre and tonnes of local financial support.
Now the centre is expanding its role with the short term detox beds, needed because drug and alcohol addiction are a huge part of why people end up homeless. The centre can now better help clients start to deal with a core issue that has them homeless.
But addictions are not new either.
Yet the announcement Monday for Bruno’s Place these are the first detox beds to be made available in southeast Saskatchewan.
You might be happy the dollars finally came from the province for this, but the Saskatchewan Party has been occupying the government side of the Legislature for years now, so the obvious question to ask is why it has taken so long.
The cynical answer as to why now of course would be that we are starting to see a ramp up to the next provincial election so spending our tax dollars in a more ‘photo ready’ fashion is just part of the re-election effort.
In this case even what might have some residual electioneering attached, is at least positive for the community.
And of course more is needed.
Angela Chernoff, Shelter Coordinator noted there are efforts under way to double beds at Bruno’s Place to 20, with discussions under way with the city and fire department on how to make the expansion meet codes.
Once approved Chernoff said a fundraising program will be undertaken, and it will take the support of community organizations and individuals to step forward with capital dollars. That said she added she is hoping the bed expansion can be achieved in the next year.
That will take the community to step forward to help those most in need of a hand up.
