A Nanaimo mother says her son and his addiction was left to spiral out of control as they tried to make their way through the health care system towards help. (The Canadian Press)

By Spencer Sterritt

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‘It’s hard to watch:’ mother grieves as son caves to drugs right before her eyes

Jul 3, 2019 | 10:01 AM

NANAIMO — Sitting in the waiting room of an Island Health clinic with her suicidal and drug addicted son, a Nanaimo mother couldn’t fathom how someone suffering from mental health and addiction problems could navigate a system of paperwork and agonizing wait times to get help.

She and her son were at the Island Health access clinic in Brooks Landing, filling out paperwork on Monday, June 17. The clinic is the central intake facility for those caught in downward spirals of drugs and mental health issues.

“I really had to help him,” she told NanaimoNewsNOW. After verifying her plight, her name will remain confidential to protect the privacy of her family.

“I don’t know how anybody in that state, when they’re feeling down and out, could do that on their own. Fifteen minutes later, after a one hour wait, he was sent out of there with a pamphlet.”

The pamphlet encouraged them to visit the mental health and addictions clinic on Barons Rd. Unfortunately they were outside of walk-in hours, which are two-and-a-half hours twice a week.

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Her son wouldn’t get in to Barons Rd. until several days later, after he suffered a seizure the day after visiting the Brooks Landing clinic. He was taken to the psychiatric emergency services unit at Nanaimo Regional General Hospital before being accepted into the Barons Rd. facility.

He was a frequent visitor of the PES unit.

In the last year, his drug habit has increased dramatically and he’s overdosed several times. What the mother said started subtly with self-medication and Xanax quickly became cocaine and lean, which is codeine mixed with soda.

“It was disappointing because he was constantly released,” the mother said of their many trips to the hospital. “Him laughing it off because he would lie, they would believe him and then let him out again, even though thoughts of suicide and drug use were still the same.”

She believes if she was able to have input into her son’s treatment, more decisive action would have been taken.

“I feel this endless sickness inside of me, because I don’t know if his attempt will be this evening. If he will go out and use and be in an even worse spot, feeling even more down.”

Understanding how important privacy in the health system is, she said there should be grey areas as decided by doctors and health care practitioners.

“If he’s on death row, I would like to be there with him.”

Privacy issues were at the heart of the Erchuck inquest in Victoria, where a 16-year-old boy fatally overdosed and his parents claimed they were restricted by the health system from fully understanding the plight their son was in.

The Nanaimo mother said she reached out to NanaimoNewsNOW after seeing news of the inquest and recognizing how similar the situation was to her own.

“I’m hoping maybe people have hit these doors before and have had enough. To voice and let that out is part of healing.”

The jury in the Eurchuck inquest gave several recommendations, including streamlining youth treatment beds and providing more long-term care facilities to accomodate the overwhelming number of people trapped by the ongoing overdose crisis.

The recommendations highlights gaps in services which were previously identified by the former Representative for Children and Youth in a 2016 report.

At the time, representative Mark Ellen Turpel-Lafond described a “piecemeal” service system for youth suffering from substance use issues which left those in precarious situations waiting an interminable amount of time.

Walk-in service hours were added to the Barons Rd. mental health and addictions services location roughly two-and-a-half years ago.

When asked what’s being done to mitigate the impact of the overdose crisis, Island Health said staffing has increased as substance use outreach teams are added.

“Our frontline staff note a general decrease in the median age of those requiring this type of care. In response, our staff are focusing more closely on services for youth and are working to develop an improved transition of care from hospital to longer term treatment.”

Anyone in need of assistance can visit the Brooks Landing walk-in clinic during the day or call the Vancouver Island Crisis Line.

spencer@nanaimonewsnow.com

On Twitter: @spencer_sterrit