Addiction care in Vancouver already improving with new program: experts

A new model of treatment for addiction care at St. Paul’s Hospital is already being praised for its effectiveness, after only months of operation.

Sarah Blyth spends a lot of her time on the Downtown Eastside running the Overdose Prevention Society.

She says the program, even though it’s still in its early stages, is already helping lots of people struggling with drug addiction.

“We still have some problems getting people in right away, but I think that there’s a commitment to really working on it to make the program better,” Blyth said.

According to provincial data, 94 people have been cared for using the 34 beds that became available through this initiative since the fall.

St. Paul’s currently houses 14 of those beds as detox beds and the other 20 are transitional care beds in the community.

By March 2025, the initiative should be fully implemented and will operate with 25 detox beds, 20 transitions beds, and 50 treatment and recovery beds.

As additional beds become available in the coming years, Blyth says the next critical step is ensuring the program is accessible for those ready to enter treatment.

“When people make the decision that they want recovery, it doesn’t last two weeks, a month, it could last a few hours when they’re in the headspace when they’re ready to go,” Blyth said.

“We need it on demand for people and that’s just really important.”

Ian Haynes, peer co-ordinator at Road to Recovery, agrees having these beds immediately accessible is crucial.

“Personally, there were so many times I was ready to get help, but when I reached out for treatment, I was told I needed to wait for days, weeks, sometimes months,” Haynes said.

“By the time the date would come, my priorities would have changed. I wouldn’t care anymore, so my substance-use disorder would continue.”

Unified system of care critical: doctor

Dr. Seonaid Nolan, head of addiction care for Providence Health Care, says what’s unique about this program is its focus on communication and cooperation between existing programs.

She says previously addiction care was put in silos across the province and care providers often didn’t know what others were doing.

Now, she says there’s a clear end goal.

“Make sure that there is a unified substance use system of care that is similar to any other chronic relapsing disease like cardiac care or kidney care or critical care,” she said. “Irrespective of where someone in British Columbia is, at the moment they raise their hand they know where to go to access services.”

Nolan says using this new approach, people seeking in-hospital addiction care have gone from waiting weeks to waiting days for the services they need.

Road to Recovery is a partnership between B.C., Providence Health Care, Vancouver Coastal Health and the BC Centre on Substance Use (BCCSU).

The province says it was created to “address gaps in the system, allow people to access care more effectively and to remove barriers as people transition to different services.”

As part of its 2023 budget, B.C. has set aside $23.7 million annually to fund and monitor the Road to Recovery model, as well as help it expand to other regions across the province.

With files from Michael Williams and Liza Yuzda.