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An Annapolis Valley woman believes her daughter would still be alive if there were more facilities where patients can stay for extended periods while going through addiction withdrawal treatment.
Barbara Tilley, 38, died in February after a long battle with alcohol addiction. Her mother, Leslie Tilley, says that despite trying everything, Barbara was never able to get treatment that worked for her.
“I made my house almost like a rehab and she said, ‘Mom, take all my money, take my tips, put it in the bank, take my bank card. Don’t let me go to meetings by myself,’” she said.
“This is a girl that needed help and wanted help.”
Leslie said Nova Scotia Health needs more treatment programs that admit patients to facilities for weeks at a time, known as inpatient treatment, that are similar to services offered by health authorities in New Brunswick and P.E.I.
However, addiction services staff at Nova Scotia Health say the best way to treat people is by offering a range of support people can access while living at home — known as outpatient services.
Leslie Tilley lost her daughter to alcohol addiction but believes she would still be alive if the province had more live-in treatment centres. Nova Scotia Health focuses primarily on support services that enable people to stay in the community. The CBC’s Josh Hoffman has the story.
Leslie, who has battled alcohol addiction herself, has stayed in facilities for weeks at a time to get sober.
She says her daughter went to drop-in clinics several times without any success. Barbara needed to be admitted somewhere she could stay for a while and receive round-the-clock support, Leslie said.
“It kind of gets your legs underneath you. It gives you enough time to be sober [and] to learn what being sober is all about.”
What’s available in Nova Scotia
Nova Scotia Health operates a total of 27 beds across inpatient withdrawal services in Dartmouth, Sydney and Springhill.
The Annapolis Valley, where Barbara lived, is in the only health zone in Nova Scotia without one of these facilities.
Hundreds of people in the province use these inpatient beds every year and the average stay for a patient is between a couple of days and a week, said Janah Fair, the director for mental health and addictions in the northern zone who also supports addiction medicine across the province.
For outpatient care, the health authority operates 12 recovery support centres and 22 opioid recovery clinics. Some of the opioid clinics are located within the recovery centres.
People can walk into these facilities at any time and get connected to the support they need, Fair said.
“The recovery support centres really kind of provide that quick access to care. Withdrawal management is just really a first step in treatment and [these facilities] really open the door to ongoing care for people using substances,” she said.
Nova Scotia Health says their approach is based on numbers out of British Columbia that suggest approximately 80 per cent of people suffering from alcohol addiction don’t need aggressive interventions. However, that number is only in the context of determining what medication should be used in outpatient services.
A spokesperson wouldn’t explain how this number suggests outpatient services are more successful than inpatient services.
What’s available in other Maritime provinces
Health authorities in New Brunswick and P.E.I. offer the extended inpatient care that Leslie Tilley wants to see in Nova Scotia.
Horizon Health Network, which is one of two health authorities in New Brunswick, operates four inpatient units and has live-in rehab programs that run from 35 to 90 days.
Health PEI has a 21-day bed-based addiction program that helps people in the early stages of recovery as they prepare to transition back into the community.
Similar services are available at private facilities in Nova Scotia but can cost patients thousands of dollars.
Crosbie House Recovery and Addiction Centre is operated by a non-profit organization in New Minas. Staff say three out of four people who stay at the facility are abstinent one year after they leave.
“In an inpatient program, you’re allowing the person to solely focus on what their needs are. You’re taking them out of the triggers and the stressors and you’re getting them out of active addiction,” said Adam Lewis, program manager at Crosbie House.
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