Addictions transition unit closed and patients discharged to prepare for COVID-19

The 18-bed transition unit at P.E.I.'s addictions treatment facility has been shut down to free up space as demand for hospital beds is expected to increase in the COVID-19 pandemic

The transition program runs for three weeksand offers counselling and group therapy sessions to recovering addicts coming out of detox.

But Tony Doyle says last Wednesday, just a week into his program, he and 17 other patients were told they were being discharged that day.

"Itfelt like I was getting thrown to the wolves, just thrown right back to the streets," said Doyle, who is now spending his days in downtown Charlottetown, and his nights at a men's shelter.

"It was really scary to be honest.It felt like I got so far, and then basically all my work I did there was not worth anything."

Staff, services shuffled

In a news briefingWednesday, Health PEI's chief of nursing Marion Dowlingsaid some mental health and addictions staff and services have been shuffled aroundamong the Unit 9 psychiatric wardatthe Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Hillsborough Hospital, and the addictions facility in Mount Herbert.

She said it's an effort to "create that capacity for dealing with,particularly, a communicable disease like COVID-19."

Later Wednesday, in a statement to CBC, a government spokesperson addedthat "as part of this process, Health PEI has discharged some patients from Unit 9 at the QEH and from the transition unit at Mount Herbert."

The statement went on to say that all those patients were assessed before being discharged, and that patients "who were not stable" were taken to Hillsborough Hospital or the Prince County Hospital mental-health inpatient unit.

Doyle said he feels patients like him, who are stablebut still in need of help with their addictions,are being ignored.

"It just seems like they went for the first easy solutionand didn't really care about recovering addicts, who are very vulnerable right now," he said.

'I just feel so sad for them'

Ellen Taylor, a recoveringaddict who has lobbied government for better mental health and addictions services, agrees with Doyle.

She said she's spoken with two other patients who were forced out of the transition program last weekandhave since relapsed.

"I just feel so sad for them.I know the pain and the desperation.You feel like everybody's against you," said Taylor.

"These are the people who are going to be putting more pressure on our health care system if they're not getting the help they need."

According to Health PEI, "A plan of care and a safety planwas completed with all patients discharged in the last two weeks."Itwasn't clear from the email exactly what supports those patients have been offered.

For Doyle's part, he saidhe's been told he will be able to re-enter thetransition programwheneverit's back up and running.

He said that can't happen soon enough.

"It worries me, being out downtown," he said.

"There's [the potential for] a relapsewhen I'm back in the areas I tried to avoid.I'm doing my best to try to stay away from it."

More COVID-19 stories from CBC P.E.I.