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RUTH BONNEVILLE \/ FREE PRESS<\/p>\n
Kirsty Muller said there is already a wait list of about 60 people in Garden Hill alone.<\/p>\n
\u201cSometimes coming to the city is very triggering for people, and people should be able to access all services, no matter where they live,\u201d Muller said.<\/p>\n
\u201cBeing able to provide services in community for this population is extremely important to us, so that\u2019s why we\u2019re going to them, instead of them having to come to us.\u201d<\/p>\n
Nurses will split their time equally between patients in Winnipeg who can access the Ellice Avenue clinic and mobile clinics across Island Lakes. Most treatment involves administering suboxone, a medication for treating opioid addiction, and sublocade, a longer-term injectable treatment.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re right across from Perimeter Airlines,\u201d Muller said. \u201cWe\u2019re easy to access for people that are flying in or flying out, so if they need to access services before they go home, or when they come down.\u201d<\/p>\n
While they are also trained to connect people to detox treatments, mental-heath services and other resources, they are largely seeing patients struggling with opioid addictions, Muller said.<\/p>\n
There is already a wait list of about 60 people in Garden Hill alone, she said.<\/p>\n
In St. Theresa Point, fast access to addictions treatment is increasingly necessary, said band councillor Vernon Monias.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s really, really destroying our youth\u2026 and with this kind of program being introduced, it\u2019ll help a lot of a lot of our youth from back home,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t RUTH BONNEVILLE \/ FREE PRESS<\/p>\n Inside one of several medical assessment rooms in the newly opened Anisininew Okimawin and Four Arrows Regional Health facility. <\/p>\n Muller said previous attempts to access funding through provincial and federal channels weren\u2019t successful, and while the small team is fully funded by the Island Lakes region\u2019s Four Arrows Regional Health Authority for the rest of the fiscal year, they will need further funding to be able to ensure the program continues.<\/p>\n \u201cRight now, it\u2019s getting it up and running, but what I would hate is to have a very successful program and develop relationships with these members and community members and offer these services, and then for us to have to take it away and not be able to financially, physically support it,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n Shared Health runs the Manitoba Opioid Support and Treatment Program, a team of medical professionals who offer opioid agonist therapy medications, counselling and other harm-reduction tools.<\/p>\n The team was recruited by the Manitoba Anisininew Mobile Addiction Network in May, and has begun travelling to Garden Hill for three days at a time every second week, said Michelle LaFrenais, a nurse and case manager for MOST.<\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s somebody there every week now, (but) even in saying that, the wait list is immense. We\u2019re hoping, between their team and our team, we can start getting people started fast\u2026 because today\u2019s opportunity might be a missed opportunity tomorrow.\u201d<\/p>\n MOST is working on expanding its service to the other three Island Lake communities.<\/p>\n \n\t\tWinnipeg Free Press | Newsletter\n\t<\/p>\n \t\t LaFrenais said there is a treatment program available that includes a monthly fly-in to Winnipeg, but there are many potential barriers, including flight weather delays and patients not being able to leave their families once a month.<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t RUTH BONNEVILLE \/ FREE PRESS<\/p>\n Inside the newly opened Anisininew Okimawin and Four Arrows Regional Health facility. <\/p>\n \u201cPeople with families, kids, (the) safety of their own community, they appreciate so much that we are coming out there,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n Opioid agonist therapy is the current standard of care for opioid use disorders in Manitoba, because it is able to quickly reduce severe withdrawal symptoms for a short time, allowing the patient a chance to seek long-term treatment.<\/p>\n In July, Siloam Mission began offering the treatment in Winnipeg.<\/p>\n malak.abas@freepress.mb.ca<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t Malak Abas Malak Abas is a city reporter at the Free Press. Born and raised in Winnipeg\u2019s North End, she led the campus paper at the University of Manitoba before joining the Free Press in 2020. Read more about Malak<\/a>.<\/p>\n Every piece of reporting Malak produces is reviewed by an editing team before it is posted online or published in print \u2014 part of the Free Press\u2018s tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about Free Press\u2019s history and mandate<\/a>, and learn how our newsroom operates<\/a>.<\/p>\n
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