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After a year of hurt and suffering, a group of people gathered this week on Ochapowace First Nation for a ribbon cutting to mark a fresh, hopeful start.
It was a time of celebration for the community after a time of pain, Chief Shelley Bear said in an interview with CBC News.
“We’ve experienced some losses of individuals that were quite significant and really broke our nation,” she said, noting many of those losses were due to drug overdoses.
“They just weren’t getting the help they needed at home,” Bear said. “We needed to bring them someplace else.”
People living in the community, located about 150 kilometres east of Regina, were all on the same page: they don’t want any more friends or family members to die. So leaders decided to try a new approach to stop the cycle of addiction.
Wī ci hi, which means helping hands, is a stabilization centre for people who have completed detox and are waiting for a spot in a treatment centre.
It will offer around-the-clock care, and patients can stay for up to two weeks, with access to health care, therapy and spiritual care.
“If they aren’t ready to be back home or integrate into the nation, we bring them here,” Bear said.
She noted the building being used for the centre was formerly a group home for young children.
“We wouldn’t need a group home for our young children if we helped our parents,” she said.
“Help our people so [they] can go back and have good, strong, healthy families, help them regain their two-spirit of who they are. And that’s what this place was meant to be.”
The drug epidemic has hit many Saskatchewan communities hard. People living on Ochapowace First Nation say they’re tired of watching friends and family members die. So they’re trying something new to stop the cycle of addiction.
Gap between detox and treatment
Patricia Thomson, Ochapowace’s health director, has worked closely with leaders to address the gap in the system between detox and treatment.
She said the process started with being able to clearly identify what stability looks like for patients during that period of time.
“[It’s] a place for them to come to be safe and build their confidence, their independence, their commitment to their sobriety, their commitment to a better way of life for 14 days,” Thomson said.
It’s no surprise that many people who go to treatment do not come out successful, she said.
“They go to treatment for 14 days, then they go back to the environment they came from.”
With the new facility, “They come here, we get them ready for treatment,” Thomson said.
Wī ci hi will officially open to patients on Feb. 1, starting with four patients. It will then take a short break to allow leaders to make any necessary improvements or changes.
Thomson said they expect the centre to be operating at full capacity by the spring, with 18 patients.
She noted that there will be a fee to stay at the centre, but leaders are still working out the details.
Ochapowace is using its own money to fund the centre, with hopes that the government will eventually chip in to help. The community also hopes to build a new treatment centre down the road, Bear said.
“We’ve had too much trauma and losses. We need to start today.”
