A New Health Office in Hastings Sunrise
What is being planned?
Vancouver Coastal Health is planning to lease space in a new three-storey building to be constructed by D. Bosa Land Corporation at 2750 East Hastings Street in Vancouver. Shoppers Drug Mart would occupy the ground floor, while Vancouver Coastal Health would occupy the second and third floors. The Hastings Sunrise Community Police Centre has also expressed an interest in leasing space on the ground floor.
Vancouver Coastal Health has been looking for space to lease in the Hastings Sunrise area for a long time. The proposed location, which meets all of Vancouver Coastal Health’s site selection criteria, would provide a single location for a number of health professionals and services currently located outside of the Hastings Sunrise neighbourhood, including:
• Northeast Mental Health Team
• Mental Health Housing Services
• Early Psychosis Intervention
• Child & Youth Mental Health Programs
• Geriatric Rehab Program
These programs provide counseling and outreach services for people who live in the Northeast area of Vancouver and are challenged by mental health issues. The building will have two levels of underground parking, with access from the lane.
Who will use the new health offices?
Mental illness affects people of all ages and backgrounds. Mental illness can affect children and youth, and adults and older adults. It affects people from all cultures and all income levels. Forty percent of the clients who will use the mental health counseling services currently live within a few blocks of the proposed location. The remainder of clients will come from the Northeast Service Area and outreach workers will provide service to people residing in this area. People living in the Downtown Eastside will not use these offices, as they currently receive service from offices located at 330 Heatley Avenue.
About one in 10 mental health clients who will use these offices also have a chemical dependency.
What client needs would be served?
Vancouver Coastal Health’s Northeast Mental Health Team is currently located at 2610 Victoria Drive in a building that is in poor condition and needs to be demolished. Other mental health outreach staff and counselors are located in offices throughout the neighbourhood.
The proposed location at 2750 East Hastings offers a central location for the Northeast Service Area, which includes Hastings Sunrise, Renfrew-Collingwood and Kensington-Cedar Cottage. This provides clients who live in the area with a single location for all of their mental health care needs, improving access for many clients. It also allows staff to work closely together, which improves client care.
What services would be offered?
The programs that would be located at 2750 East Hastings are outpatient counseling and outreach services for people who live in the neighbourhood. The offices would be open during regular business hours, and occasionally in the early evening to accommodate group meetings.
About 90 staff would work out of this office, including nurses, doctors, social workers, occupational and recreational therapists, and other mental health professionals. Outreach staff would use the office as a base, checking in each morning and returning again at the end of the day. About 60 to 80 clients would visit each day to receive counseling services.
How will the new building impact the neighbourhood?
The Hastings Sunrise Community Police Centre supports the building being located at 2750 East Hastings and architects have followed “Crime Prevention through Environmental Design” guidelines.
Traffic will not increase significantly, and secure underground parking will be provided. Shoppers Drug Mart on the ground level will offer residents new and accessible retail services.
How has the neighbourhood been involved?
The owner of the property, D. Bosa Land Corporation, together with Vancouver Coastal Health, has worked with the local community to inform them of this project. Input has been collected from the Vancouver Police Department and the City’s Hastings Sunrise City Plan Committee, as well as through community-wide meetings that explained the services to be provided.
What is the future plan for this location?
At this time, Vancouver Coastal Health foresees providing mental health services only. However, the Health Authority is constantly reviewing the way it provides services to its clients to ensure services are as effective as possible and meet all of the client’s needs. In some health offices in other neighbourhoods for example, both mental health and addiction services are provided.
Program Description for 2750 East Hastings Street
Vancouver Coastal Health currently offers a number of mental health services in the Northeast Service area. To be more effective, we would like to bring these services together into one location, making it easier for clients to receive the services they need, and for staff to work with one another. We are proposing to have the following programs and services at the new health office.
NORTHEAST MENTAL HEALTH TEAM
• Works with clients, including to improve their mental health
• Works with children, youth, families, adults and older adults
• Works closely with other community service providers to support clients to live healthier lives and meet their basic living needs
• Assists clients and their families develop their strengths and live productive and meaningful lives
• Committed to working with many cultures and provides services in a variety of languages
• Assists with securing housing, accessing community services, receiving appropriate treatment for a client’s physical and mental health needs, developing and maintaining social and living skills, and returning to or finding new educational and employment opportunities
MENTAL HEALTH HOUSING SERVICES
• Arranges placements in mental health residential facilities or supportive living options
• Facilitates access to home support and adult day centres for individuals with a mental illness.
EARLY PSYCHOSIS INTERVENTION (for children and youth)
• Provides service to individuals 13-30 years old
• Facilitates early identification and comprehensive treatment
• Works to increase community awareness and helps to decrease the stigma
• Enables families to cope with a family member affected by mental illness
• Provides information and education about mental illness
• Minimizes the impact of mental illness on clients' lives
• Provides education and support to families
CHILD AND YOUTH MENTAL HEALTH PROGRAMS
The Family Development Unit and Youth Residential Consultation Unit:
• Reduces the risk of children developing a mental illness by delivering early intervention programs for school-aged children
• Builds community and family capacity by providing psycho educational activities
GERIATRIC REHABILITATION (mental health services for older adults)
• Enables seniors with a mental illness to participate in life as fully and independently as possible
• Offers a Day Program and Peer Support Program
• Works mainly in groups
• Works closely with other social service agencies that provide care and resources so older adults with mental health issues can continue to access and be an active part of their community
• Works to improve individuals’ lives and decrease the isolation that can result from mental illness.
What we're all about
Neighbours for Mental Health was created by a group of neighbours living in the east Hastings area on Aug. 9, 2007 to be the voice in favour of bringing valuable mental health services into our community. Up to that date the only organized group related to this development was opposed to it.
Vancouver Coastal Health Authority has applied to the city for permission to build, in conjunction with Bosa Developments, a three-storey structure. the bottom floor would be mainly a drug store, and the upper floors would house the mental health staff.
the only issue to be decided is permission to build. The Development Permit Board of the City of Vancouver will make that decision. It is not appealable to City Council or any other body. In practical terms, the DPB cannot convene a public meeting to hear arguments for and against this development until after the civic strike. They need to give two weeks notice of the time and place of the meeting, which effectively means there is little chance of such a meeting until the end of September.
Neighbours for Mental Health has the solitary aim of organizing public support for this development in front of the DPB. This blog is part of that initiative. Scroll down to inform yourself about the issues, and plan to attend the DPB when it is announced.
John Lynn
Vancouver Coastal Health Authority has applied to the city for permission to build, in conjunction with Bosa Developments, a three-storey structure. the bottom floor would be mainly a drug store, and the upper floors would house the mental health staff.
the only issue to be decided is permission to build. The Development Permit Board of the City of Vancouver will make that decision. It is not appealable to City Council or any other body. In practical terms, the DPB cannot convene a public meeting to hear arguments for and against this development until after the civic strike. They need to give two weeks notice of the time and place of the meeting, which effectively means there is little chance of such a meeting until the end of September.
Neighbours for Mental Health has the solitary aim of organizing public support for this development in front of the DPB. This blog is part of that initiative. Scroll down to inform yourself about the issues, and plan to attend the DPB when it is announced.
John Lynn
