Addiction clinics seeing success in supporting users
Cambridge, Kitchener clinics have treated more than 100 people since opening
CAMBRIDGE — In just over four months, an addiction clinic in downtown Galt has helped 38 people battle drugs and alcohol.
In Kitchener, a similar clinic has served 68 people since it opened in early March.
Both walk-in clinics are open one day a week and serve anyone who is seeking treatment.
In the new year, it’s expected both clinics, as well as another one in Guelph, will open two days a week.
“We are seeing patients leaving with a smile, without tremors and not looking anxious. They are hugging me and then coming back,” said Olga Baleca, a nurse practitioner with the Rapid Access Addiction Clinic in Cambridge.
Patients come feeling anxious, depressed and fearful and they often leave feeling relieved, she said.
“You can see success pretty fast in two to three weeks,” Baleca said.
About 50 clinics opened across Onta- rio last year in response to the opioid crisis plaguing communities across the province.
The provincial government provided funding to the Waterloo Wellington Local Health Integration Network to start the local clinics.
The Cambridge and Kitchener clinics are run by the House of Friendship.
The clinic in the Galt section of Cambridge is located in the Waterloo Region Nurse Practitioner-Led Clinic. People seeking treatment there attend enter
via the clinic’s back entrance on Fridays.
Kristin Kerr of Stonehenge Therapeutic Community said the clinics are based on a model from the Women’s College Hospital in Toronto, which offers a specialized medical clinic for people with health issues because of their substance use.
No referrals are needed and people are greeted by a peer support worker who has lived experience, and then see an addiction counsellor and nurse practitioner.
On average, a person gets help at the clinic for about three months.
Baleca has helped many patients by prescribing suboxone, a drug used to help with withdrawal symptoms from opioids.
Kerr said the clinics are full when they are open. She noted that the Kitchener clinic sees 10 to 12 people each Monday. “No doubt the need is there,” she said. Kerr said the goal of the clinic is to offer support for residents when they need it.
“It’s a stigma-free environment to talk about their substance use. Historically, it’s been a challenge to find this in a medical environment,” Kerr said.
In the past, addiction was seen as someone making bad choices and breaking the law, she said.
“It’s much more than that,” she said. “It requires social and medical supports.”
Kerr said the clinics want to become more integrated in the health-care system.
“We don’t want to work in a silo,” she said.
More information on the Rapid Access Addiction Clinics can be obtained at raacww.caor by calling 1-844-722-2977.