Wellness centre for Saskatoon homeless at capacity almost every night in first month
CBC
The 50-bed Emergency Wellness Centre set up a month ago in Saskatoon has been full almost every night.
The centre, set up as a temporary measure to help with homelessness, has been averaging 54 people per night, says Chief Marc Arcand of the Saskatoon Tribal Council (STC), which runs the facility.
"The average stay of an individual is four to seven days," Arcand said. "Since we've opened seven people have been here for the 28 days, including one pet.
"So you can see the need is here and the need is great."
Arcand said almost 300 people have used the centre since it opened.
In the first 14 days there were 10 overdoses inside the centre and another four outside.
"We do not allow anyone to use drugs, alcohol or smoke cigarettes inside this facility," he said, but added, staff don't judge people when they come through the door.
"We are trying to get them into the wellness programs while trying to help them deal with their addictions issues."
Arcand said everyone survived and there hasn't been an overdose in the last two weeks.
"I think we opened up at the right time, because it's been a long cold snap for three weeks."
Arcand said most people coming to the centre are suffering from mental health illnesses and addictions.
"There's two-thirds of the people here that, you know, probably won't come back from their addiction because they're in so deep," Arcand said. "But we still have to work with them and do the best we can to help them have a quality of life."
He said there are also families and other people on the edge between getting healthy or slipping further into addictions.
"Those are the ones we are really trying to work with to get them into housing and everything else," he said.
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