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September 2010
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Event
Details
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 In June 1970, in response to the advocacy work of a community based committee of volunteers, the Nova Scotia Alcoholism Research Foundation opened a branch office in the Provincial Building in Sydney to serve Cape Breton Island. The mandate of this branch was primarily public awareness, information and Referral/Resource Center.
In 1972 the Nova Scotia Commission on Drug Dependency was formed, replacing the Nova Scotia Alcoholism Research Foundation. This Commission was mandated by legislation to provide a comprehensive network of services for the alcohol/drug dependent person and their families.
In June 1973, again in response to the recommendations of the Referral Center and the advocacy work of a significantly expanded representative community group, this Commission initiated a pilot project designed to provide a co-ordinated and comprehensive continuum of service in the Cape Breton area. The Referral Center and its operations were incorporated into this project and the Cape Breton Addiction Rehabilitation Center was established at 115 Alexandra Street, Sydney, Nova Scotia. The continuum of service offered included detoxification, short-term inpatient program, halfway house care, outpatient assessment and counselling, community awareness and education prevention programs, employee assistance programs, and a youth outreach service. Affiliation with a long term sheltered workshop was also established. Funded and operated by the Commission, the project received advice and recommendations from the Cape Breton Regional Advisory Board which was appointed by the Commission under the terms of the Drug Dependency Act. The Board, in turn, maintained its community roots by receiving input from a community based system of committees comprised of volunteers from the community and representing some 14 communities throughout the Region.
The building occupied by the Cape Breton Addiction Rehabilitation Center was the former Little Flower Institute, an orphanage constructed in 1953, owned by the Catholic Diocese of Antigonish and closed in 1972. This building was, in 1973, rented by Nova Scotia Government Services for the purpose of housing the addiction service project and to accommodate the phase-out of the Point Edward Hospital.
The years between 1973-98 were a period of planning, development, restructuring and implementation of a seamless continuum of community based, consumer-driven services and programs. Impacting these activities were influences and events such as:
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changing client profiles - to address the needs of multiple (poly) drug use and other addictions (i.e., gambling)
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recognition of the unique needs of specific populations (women, adolescents, seniors, co-dependents, adult children of alcoholics)
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consistently increasing service demands of approximately 2,000 persons seen per year about 40% are new referrals
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community and client needs assessments and satisfaction surveys
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paradigm shifts in treatment approach
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space needs (to accommodate communities and increased workloads
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health reform direction
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management audits and budget reduction
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administration changes - two within a 5 year period (1990/91 From the Nova Scotia Commission on Drug Dependency to the Department of Health and 1995/96 from the Department of Health to the Eastern Regional Health Board)
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expansion of coverage areas - post devolution inclusion of Antigonish and Guysborough Counties
Prior to 1996 significant development and expansion efforts to address the client, community and treatment/prevention identified needs and changes included:
1989 - The opening of a ten(10) bed Primary Care Unit (detoxification) at the Strait Richmond Hospital and a satellite Outpatient Services office in Port Hawkesbury to more adequately and efficiently serve primarily the Richmond County area.
1991 - The opening of an Outpatient Clinic in Sydney located in a central, accessible and appropriate site and accommodating the staff previously housed in two rented sites.
1992-93 - The relocation to more appropriate space of Outpatient satellite offices in the areas of Glace Bay, Inverness, and Cheticamp.
1995 - The relocation of the Sydney Primary Care Unit (detoxification) from 115 Alexandra Street (Little Flower Institute) to the Cape Breton Regional Hospital allowed for the expansion and enhancement of programming and client living space for Primary Care as well as for residents of Short-Term Residential Programs whose space expanded at the 115 Alexandra Street location.
Post 1996 space expansion and enhancement efforts included the relocation of the Port Hawkesbury and Antigonish Outpatient office sites and 1997 brought a name change to Addiction Services to more adequately reflect the expanding nature of the work being done.
In March 2004, Addiction Services moved out of their Alexandra Street and George Street locations and joined together their Administration, Community Based Services and Prevention and Community Education into one building, located at their present site 235 Townsend Street.
Accompanying these changes in actual physical space and location was a paradigm shift in terms of treatment approach. Increasingly engaging in a life process, harm reduction model of analysis and practice, addiction treatment enhanced its appeal and its effectiveness by viewing an individual's addiction within the social, spiritual, economic, and political context in which it develops as opposed to the traditional medical / psychiatric view of it being symptomatic of individual illness, deficiency and dysfunction. De-emphasizing the pathologizing of the addiction experience, this approach offered opportunity for client empowerment and a holistic assessment/treatment response more relevant response to the changing definition of what constitutes and maintains individual and community health. |
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