‘We don\u2019t have access to residential-based addiction treatment services in Parry Sound or Muskoka, so people who need these services have to leave their communities’<\/p>\n
Despite high rates of homelessness and drug use in Muskoka,\u00a0according to the local Canadian Mental Health Association (CMHA), the nearest Homelessness and Addiction Recovery Treatment (HART) hub is in Simcoe County.<\/p>\n
This doesn’t sit well with Almaguin’s Andrea Hartford, who said she’s saddened by the \u201cwhole drug and homelessness situation, not only in Muskoka but in virtually all of Ontario and, in fact, North America.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe drugs today, fentanyl predominantly and other opiates, are to cope with hopelessness \u2014 no work, no housing, no food, and no possibility of improving their lot,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Hartford, who has lived in the area for 30 years, says\u00a0HART hubs are important as she\u2019s seen and heard of many lives lost and destroyed due to homelessness and drug use.<\/p>\n
For Hartford, supporting services offered to help people in vulnerable situations is a responsibility everyone carries.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat is what humanity is supposed to be about,\u201d she said. \u201cThe only way mankind survives is to care for one another. At my time of life, with the very little I have to offer, I can only hope to do my part by stirring up others who have the tools to do what I can\u2019t.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ontario launched a $560-million initiative to open 29 new HART\u00a0hubs across the province in a year. While these hubs have reached Simcoe County, residents in Muskoka feel left behind when it comes to mental health.<\/p>\n
Satnam Grewal, spokesperson for the minister of health, said\u00a0HART hubs are a replacement for drug injection sites.<\/p>\n
\u201cHubs provide people facing mental-health challenges with 24\/7 support to connect them with treatment and recovery options, while giving them support to break the cycle of addiction,\u201d said Grewal.<\/p>\n
Alongside addiction recovery, Grewal said HART hubs add supportive housing units, helping thousands of people transition to more stable long-term housing each year.<\/p>\n
The first nine HART hubs launched in April 2025, with four hubs opening in Toronto, and other locations such as Peterborough, Brampton, Windsor, and Ottawa.<\/p>\n
Diane Brown-Demarco, executive director of\u00a0CMHA\u00a0for Muskoka-Parry Sound, said Muskoka applied to be part of the HART hub initiative.<\/p>\n
The application, made in partnership with the District of Muskoka and the Parry Sound District Social Service Administration Board, was not accepted.<\/p>\n
Brown-Demarco said there was no reason given for the rejection. The initiative\u2019s intent was to replace safe consumption sites, as mentioned by Grewal, which were not originally in Muskoka to begin with.<\/p>\n
Although there are centres such as De Novo Treatment Centre in Huntsville, which aims to support trade workers wanting to undergo substance use recovery, these sources are not common across Muskoka.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s very important for our community because we do not currently have access to these services,\u201d said Brown-Demarco. \u201cWe don\u2019t have access to residential-based addiction treatment services in Parry Sound or Muskoka, so people who need these services have to leave their communities.\u201d<\/p>\n
Without services like HART hubs, Brown-Demarco said there could be more concern for vulnerable people in Muskoka.<\/p>\n
\u201cRates of homelessness and drug use in Muskoka are above provincial averages,\u201d said Brown-Demarco. \u201cThey were above provincial averages when we submitted the proposal two years ago\u00a0and they have continued to climb.\u201d<\/p>\n
The 2021 homelessness enumeration data submitted by Ontario municipalities indicates Muskoka\u2019s per capita homelessness rate at 24.1 per 10,000 residents. This is significantly higher than the Ontario average of 16.0, reaching similar rates as Toronto.<\/p>\n
Grewal said the hubs are in addition to Ontario\u2019s $3.8 billion Roadmap to Wellness plan, which aims to build a comprehensive mental health and addiction system.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis includes 32 new Youth Wellness Hubs, building 500 new addiction recovery beds, over half of which are located in the north,\u201d said Grewal.<\/p>\n
Brown-Demarco said there are definitive gaps in Muskoka\u2019s services.<\/p>\n
\u201cNo matter what health-related specialty you\u2019re thinking of, the larger urban centres tend to get most of the services and expect people to travel to those centres,\u201d said Brown-Demarco.<\/p>\n
The nearest HART hub to Parry Sound-Muskoka is in Barrie.<\/p>\n
The HART hub in Simcoe County aims to provide primary care, indigenous health and wellness services, mental health and addiction services (including bed-based treatment and supportive and transitional housing), peer support, and employment and support services.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s the reality of our health-care system,\u201d said Brown-Demarco. \u201cOftentimes, what you need is not available in your community, especially when you live in a more remote or rural setting.\u201d<\/p>\n
As residents like Hartford take to social media to express feeling forgotten in mental-health decisions, Brown-Demarco hopes to bring attention to Muskoka\u2019s lack of health access.<\/p>\n
\u201cHART hubs are a start, but they aren\u2019t the whole answer,\u201d said Hartford.<\/p>\n
Rebecca Hudescu is a\u00a0Local Journalism Initiative reporter with MuskokaRegion.com. LJI is a federally funded program.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"‘We don\u2019t have access to residential-based addiction treatment services in Parry Sound or Muskoka, so people who need…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":693906,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[49,48,84,392,253317],"class_list":["post-693905","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-healthcare","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-health","tag-healthcare","tag-muskokahart-hub-of-simcoe-county"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/693905","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=693905"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/693905\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/693906"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=693905"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=693905"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=693905"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}