John Klinck: Muskoka needs better access to mental health services

Rise in demand and long wait times for sparse services in Muskoka, says district chair

MUSKOKA – Several of Muskoka’s political leaders are sounding the alarm on limited access to mental health services in the region.

John Klinck, chair for the District of Muskoka, stated during a district health services committee meeting in January he was particularly concerned the region was being shortchanged on funding and services for mental health care, despite a rise in demand for services.

He made his comments during a visit by Jill Tettmann, CEO for the North Simcoe Muskoka Local Health Integration Network.

Coun. Tim Withey a Huntsville representative and district committee member, further noted how the unavailability of services, such as psychiatry, in one area of the health-care system in Muskoka caused unnecessary pressure in others, such as hospital emergency departments.

According to the Simcoe Muskoka District Health Unit, the annual number of mental illness-related emergency room visits for Simcoe Muskoka residents rose from roughly 8,000 in 2011 to more than 10,000 in 2015, which was higher than the provincial average.

Most visits were related to anxiety disorders, followed by substance use and mood disorders.

But one of the main causes for concern in hospitals across Ontario was the rise in opioid use, as well as an increase in patients presenting with agitation and co-ingestion.

In Muskoka, according to the Muskoka Community Foundation 2018 Vital Signs Report, the average number of opioid-related hospitalizations from 2012 to 2016 was 10.

But, according to the health unit, that number spiked to 24 in 2017, as an example.

• No residential treatment centres or detoxification units

• No mental health beds

• Limited or non-existent access to psychiatric and psychological assessments, counselling and supports

• Minimal supports for LGBTQ and transitioning youth

• No youth shelter

• Transportation challenges, and

• Shortage of physician care

The limits to accessing mental health care, continued the report, meant residents were forced to travel out of the region for services.

Tettmann told committee members that mental health and addiction services continued to be a priority in the province and the region, and remained the focus of a regional mental health and addiction planning table, especially related to enhanced service co-ordination.

“There is a lot of activity around how we better deliver mental health and addiction services, what’s best for patients and their families, from child and youth to adults and seniors,” said Tettmann.

She noted that Muskoka residents could access three hospitals within the North Simcoe Muskoka LHIN that provided a regional level of mental health and addiction services – Royal Victoria Regional Health Centre in Barrie, Orillia Soldiers’ Memorial Hospital and Waypoint Centre for Mental Health Care in Penetanguishene – as well as 24-hour acute mental health beds at the Barrie and Orillia hospitals with more beds planned for Georgian Bay General Hospital in Midland in future.

But she noted that, in talks with health-care professionals in Muskoka, access to those beds and services remained challenging, even in an emergency, because of high demand for them.

Other projects were underway.

She applauded, for example, Muskoka Algonquin Healthcare’s addition of secure rooms in both the Bracebridge and Huntsville hospital emergency departments to protect patients at high risk of violence or harm to themselves or others.

She also noted her organization had recently funded a joint mobile police and mental health crisis response team that paired police with a mental health support worker when responding to calls for an individual in need of mental health support.

“That is a new investment in this area,” she said.

Tettmann further noted there were two North Simcoe Muskoka walk-in counselling clinics offered in Muskoka to help address long wait times for mental health services in the area:

• Canadian Mental Health Association Muskoka-Parry Sound office, 173 Manitoba St., Bracebridge, on Wednesdays from noon to 6:30 p.m., and

• Huntsville IDA, 10 Main St. E, Huntsville, on Thursdays from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.

But more needed to be done.

Canadian Mental Health Association Muskoka-Parry Sound representatives had told district community services committee members in late-2018 that roughly 2,980 people came through the organization’s mental health or addiction intake in Muskoka the last fiscal year, and provincial funding and staff levels weren’t keeping pace with a rise in demand for services.

While crisis intervention services were immediate, counselling services, as an example, had months-long wait times. And representatives noted the importance of enhancing access to mild and moderate mental health services early as a means to reducing crisis scenarios in future.

The organization, according to its 2017-2018 annual report, had 113 staff, including part-time, full-time and contract employees.

The report noted the agency had provided 38,355 individual appointments related to crisis intervention, addictions and problem gambling, counselling and treatment, assertive community treatment, early intervention, opioid treatment, telemedicine and more that year, while providing a further 1,084 people with same-day crisis intervention, and facilitating 1,270 group sessions as well as 839 video conferences between clients and specialists via the Ontario Telemedicine Network, as examples.