Pubdate: Thu, 15 Sep 2005
Source: Penticton Herald (CN BC)
Copyright: 2005 The Okanagan Valley Group of Newspapers
Contact:  http://www.pentictonherald.ca/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/664
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/rehab.htm (Treatment)

HELP HARD TO GET

Penticton Woman Tells Of Struggle To Obtain Treatment For Her Drug-Addicted 
Brother

Editor's note: The following story is the third in a four-part series on 
substance abuse and rehabilitation issues in the Penticton and South 
Okanagan area.

MARK BRETT Penticton Herald

Nadine Meagher knows first-hand the dangers of drug abuse, but she wasn't 
prepared for the roadblocks she would face while attempting to rescue her 
brother from the nightmare of crystal meth addiction

Her problems began recently when she attempted to have the 23-year-old 
admitted to the 20-bed Phoenix Centre detoxification facility in Kamloops 
shortly after he was arrested by Penticton RCMP. "He had punched an Ironman 
(contestant) in the head and tried to steal his bike and was jumping on 
cars, so he was charged with assault and mischief," said Meagher. "That 
evening, he called me, methed out of his tree, told me he was in jail and 
asked me to come and pick him up." She called the watch commander at the 
RCMP detachment and told him that she and her mother were coming in to talk 
to the officer who was looking after the matter

"We went in and begged him (the officer), 'Please don't release him; commit 
him under the Mental Health Act.' But the officer said they couldn't do 
that for a drug addict," said Meagher, who added she even called 
Penticton-Okanagan Valley MLA Bill Barisoff for help, without success. Her 
brother was released the following day and came to stay with her. Over the 
next two days, his mental state deteriorated to the point where she had to 
get help

"He was seeing angels and demons and Jesus . . . so I called them (Phoenix) 
and they arranged for a bed for him at night. . . . I got him a ride to 
Kamloops, but when he arrived at the detox centre they wouldn't accept him 
because they said he was in complete crystal meth psychosis and . . . was a 
danger to himself," recalled Meagher

The Penticton woman maintains she had explained her brother's mental state 
quite clearly to the worker at Phoenix and was surprised he had not been 
admitted

Admission to detoxification centres is voluntary. They provide a safe and, 
when necessary, medically supported environment for people who are 
withdrawing from drugs or alcohol. Meagher said she cannot understand the 
vicious circle she and her family appear to be caught in, with one 
government agency after another pointing in different directions with no 
apparent end in sight for her or her brother

"The buck is being passed, and in the meantime he is roaming around in this 
complete insane state of mind. There has to be some help I can get from 
someone before it is too late." Meagher, who remembers her brother as a 
"loving, caring, innocent little boy," eventually was able to get him into 
a Vancouver detox centre. However, she received a phone call from him this 
week to let her know he had signed himself out

"Now, he's out on the streets of Vancouver," Meagher said Wednesday. "Maybe 
I can still find him help before he does more crystal meth and dies, but I 
don't know what else I can do." Meanwhile, at Crossroads Treatment Centre 
in Kelowna, which, like Phoenix Centre, is contracted by Interior Health 
for detox services, executive director Corinne Dolman said its eight-bed 
detox unit is capable of providing service to most people due to a high 
level of staff training. That level of training may not exist at other 
facilities, she said

"We have very few barriers to treatment or detox," said Dolman. "We take 
fairly complex clients, but if we're not able to provide them services we 
would have them transported to KGH (Kelowna General Hospital), but we 
generally take them all." However, she added that hospitals sometimes are 
reluctant to take people due to expense and limited resources

"There are definitely people that are falling through the cracks because of 
wait-lists and lack of bed availability. There's no doubt about that," said 
Dolman. "They would be better served at detox facilities." There is about a 
10-day wait at Crossroads, which provides medically supported detox with 
24-hour supervised withdrawal services for clients who stay anywhere from 
five to 10 days. After detox, Crossroads workers attempt to arrange for 
ongoing support services, generally through a residential facility where 
clients live while undergoing counselling, usually for about a month

 From there, the next step is for the client to return to society with the 
added support of an out-patient facility, such as Pathways Addiction 
Resource Centre in Penticton

"We have one-to-one counselling and groups, and we have intensive treatment 
programs where people come in here for four hours a day for a month," said 
Pathways director Jeanni Jones. "It's similar to the residential setting 
except that it's not residential." Counsellors also talk to clients to 
determine their needs and provide them with a list of options. According to 
Jones, the one underlying component of any treatment program, from detox to 
outpatient care, is client attitude

"The most important thing: they have to want to get better," said Jones.
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MAP posted-by: Elizabeth Wehrman