“Lives are at stake,” Oshawa MPP calls for increased provincial support for BackDoor Mission crisis clinic

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Published April 18, 2022 at 10:08 am

"Lives are at stake," Oshawa MPP calls for increased provincial support for BackDoor Mission crisis clinic
Oshawa MPP Jennifer Frech calls on Ontario to renew aid for the Mission United after their provincial funds "evaporated."

Oshawa MPP Jennifer French is calling on the Ford government to boost supports for mental health crisis and addiction supports clinics like the city’s Mission United network.

The Back Door Mission, the Canadian Mental Health Association (CMHA), Durham Mental Health, Lakeridge Health, Durham Region’s Social Services, the John Howard Society, the AIDS Committee of Durham and Feed the Need and others have joined forces over the years to combat Oshawa’s growing urban poverty and aid those affected.

From early beginnings as a simple drop-in support centre operating out of the Simcoe Street United Church in 1998, the Back Door Mission has grown “exponentially” over the last two decades.

It spun off from the church in 2014 when it was incorporated as an independent non-denominational charity. However the Mission remains headquartered in the church building offering sanctuary, food, and medical and social services to the unhoused people of Oshawa.

COVID-19 led to a massive shuttering of local services and businesses, limiting access to those experiencing poverty. The Mission, picking up the slack, expanded from a segment of the Church to fill the building.

The mission greatly expanded its meal program and harm reduction supply services. Numerous partners were brought into the building itself creating a downtown services hub for one-stop mental and physical healthcare.

Per their website, services at the Mission now include;

  • Multi-service navigation and assistance
  • Medical clinic (Doctor and Nurse Practitioner)
  • Crisis and mental health supports
  • Daytime safe sleep area 
  • Harm reduction and supplies
  • ​Withdrawal and addictions management
  • Financial and Social Assistance 
  • Housing supports, and
  • ​Peer Support and Outreach

As the mission expanded, so too did the need for it. Over the pandemic period the population of people in Oshawa living unsheltered grew.

Durham Region’s uses of By-name list to track people enrolled in Social Services. Durham had around 85 people on the list at any given time last year, peaking at over 100 last April.

This list comprises only those who are enrolled in services so provides a conservative estimate. Many remain off the list due to cognitive impairment or health needs that put them beyond the Region’s ability to help. Others simply choose not to engage.

Those who do enroll often see great success in attaining housing as the Region reports high “outflow” into housing through programs like Oshawa’s coming micro-homes among numerous other programs.

The rapid expansion and comprehensive care at the Mission “should stand as a gold standard” by which other communities measure the success of their outreach services, according to an open letter from French to Whitby-native Minister of Health Christine Elliott requesting the province’s aid.

“While Oshawa is not unique in its desperate need for mental health and addiction resources and support, we have been unique and a leader in coordinated, immediate and effective care and intervention through Mission United,” said French. 

However, French asserts provincial funding “has evaporated without warning.”

Stressing the need for services like the Back Door Mission provide in directing patients away from emergency rooms, French said, “Anecdotally, I know that community members are having better experiences with health care, safer journeys through addiction and a higher chance of surviving because of the care and relationships they rely on at the Back Door Mission.”

According to French the medical team found that their provincial funding would dry up on March 31, just days beforehand. “Our community and vulnerable neighbours desperately need this funding to continue. It is not hyperbole to say that lives are at stake.”

In her letter, French stressed that many patients of the Back Door Mission received their addiction and psychological treatment while self-isolating with COVID-19, using funding that no longer exists.

The harm to vulnerable individuals and the needless additional strain on hospital resources can be avoided by reinvesting in this program that has risen to phenomenal challenge over few years,” she said.

Additionally, French stressed patients of the Back Door Mission cannot receive treatment elsewhere. Many do not trust hospitals. Around half don’t have health cards and will be turned away from private clinics.

The Province has recently taken a different track in it’s $90 million Addictions Recovery Fund announced in February. This fund will finance six new youth wellness hubs, two new mobile mental health clinics, three new police-partnered mobile crisis response teams, and additional community supports. Clinics like the Back Door Mission are not included in the plan.

The clients whose lives are shaped by addictions, mental health crisis, volatility and unpredictability are not going to be successful in scheduling and attending appointments. How in good conscious can we condemn them to struggle alone without care?”

Photo via the Back Door Mission for the Relief of Poverty.

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