I’m proud to share the news that the Northway Wellness Centre has officially opened in Sault Ste. Marie.

On September 19 earlier this year, I joined the team from Sault Area Hospital and many community partners at Northway to share with the public that the 20-bed residential withdrawal management facility centre would begin accepting patients on September 25.

Northway Wellness Centre is the home to the residential withdrawal management and safe beds program and will be offering services such as comprehensive assessments, medical support, counselling. They will be able to refer patients and families to all of the related services and offerings within our community.

The new facility will provide treatment options to people in our community who are suffering and their families by complementing the significant investments that have been made to build out-of-hospital services and numerous community wraparound supports and services that support vulnerable persons in crisis before they end up in a hospital. These supports are all critical and will help people to heal and to thrive.

Northway will be staffed by a mental health and addictions team including doctors, nurses and social workers.

I want to say a special thank you to the Ministry of Health and to Sault Area Hospital and all of the various community organisations and leaders for making this a reality and for bringing this incredible new facility into our community. It is going to help so many.

Dementia in its many forms is a critical health care issue that affects patients, families and caregivers in profound ways. In the region of Durham, there are over 4,000 residents with dementia. While there are many dementia care services and programs in place today, there’s still a lot of work to do. Consequently, Ontario Tech University and Ontario Shores Centre for Mental Health Sciences have launched the Advancement for Dementia Care Centre, a vital new community-based partnership aimed at uncovering solutions to improve the quality of life of patients and caregivers through innovation and research and deployment of new technologies.

Speaker, one ADCC example of accelerating care involves a “living lab” at Ontario Shores, where cutting-edge technologies can be adapted, implemented in real clinical settings and evaluated based on their practical application. This innovation will support patients’ psychosocial needs and behavioural challenges.

Clearly, the partnership between Ontario Tech and Ontario Shores Centre for Mental Health Sciences will positively impact the care of people living with dementia and their families living in Whitby and other parts of the region of Durham.