Cuts to mental health are short-sighted

Yesterday I went to Waddell's Haven Guest Home, a mental health and addictions facility in Mission.

I was there to talk to workers, residents and their families about Fraser Health Authority's recent announcement of the facility's closure. They were in shock after hearing the news last week. Some of the workers have been there for over 15 years.

The residents at Waddell's are mainly older patients who have come from Riverview and Forensic Psychiatry and they are there because they have nowhere else to go.

Waddell's has become a home for the residents. The workers and the residents are a family. And as a family member of one of the residents aptly pointed out, Waddell's is a good home for her sister because she gets the care she needs in a setting that is far from the city and the dangers it presents to the mentally ill.

A reporter from the Mission Record asked me if the provincial government plays any part in the closure of this facility and others that the health authorities have been announcing recently.

Let's make no mistake- the closure of Waddell's, and other homes like it, are a direct result of the government's lack of proper funding for health care and their failure to deliver a workable plan to deal with our society's most vulnerable.

Closing homes like Waddell's Haven and destabilizing the mentally ill is no solution to deal with budget pressures and will end up costing more in the long-term.