Changes upset mental health clients

Changes upset mental health clients
By Dan Hilborn, Burnaby Now assistant editor
Published July 23, 2003


Clients of the now-closed Lougheed mental health centre in Burnaby are expressing concern this week after some of them learned that they will have to change caregivers for the second time in under a year.

Linda McGregor, who first raised concerns about the move more than six months ago, said she was dismayed to learn last week that she will now have to go the South Burnaby centre, after a second redrawing of boundaries for mental health patients in Burnaby.

"I find it really hard to understand why people with mental illness are being pushed from pillar to post," McGregor told the Burnaby NOW on Monday morning. "First they're having their doctor changed, now they're having their case manager changed. When you're suffering from a mental illness, this is just awful."

McGregor, who was first diagnosed with severe depression in 1977, said she has benefited much from her involvement with the Burnaby mental health centre over the past quarter century.

But she does not understand why so many changes are being thrust upon so many sensitive people in so short a time period.

"A change in medical treatment is difficult for anyone, but it's especially difficult for someone with a mental illness."

And she claims to know of instances of other people who have simply stopped seeing their therapists and clinicians because of the inconvenience of the long trip.

The changes first went into effect last December when the former Lougheed mental health office, located on North Road at the far eastern boundary of Burnaby, was closed due to an apparent lack of clients.

Clients who attended that office were offered a choice to move to either the smaller North Burnaby office on Hastings Street or the main Central Burnaby office, which was located at Willingdon and Canada Way but was moved to Burnaby Hospital, at the far western end of Burnaby, this week.

This week, some clients originally moved from Lougheed to Central were told they were being moved again, this time to the South Burnaby office, located at Middlegate Mall. McGregor said the multiple changes in offices and caregivers is difficult for a variety of reasons.

"Most people with mental health have trust issues. It takes a lot of time to build up trust," McGregor said. "My concern is not just for myself. I know of at least two other people who do not want to be relocated again.

"But both of them are very intimidated by the system, and they don't want to be fighting and I don't know if they will have the strength to be able to argue and fight on their own behalf."

Akinlulo Falode, manager of Burnaby Mental Health Services, was able to confirm that some patients of the former Lougheed care centre were being relocated for the second time in about eight months but said his office was forced to make the move because of limited resources.

Falode was also unable to talk about the specifics of any case because of strict client confidentiality rules.

"That's the best solution we have for closing the Lougheed team," Falode said, when asked about the relocation of clients from Lougheed to Central and then to South. "I don't see any other solution.

"I understand the concern and apologize for the inconvenience, but under the circumstances, we can't avoid it," Falode said. "We have a shortage of staffing and we do the best we can. That's what we're trying to do here.

"However, if anyone has major concerns they can call me. But no one has contacted me directly," he added.

Meanwhile, McGregor claims to have evidence that at least one of the former clients from the Lougheed mental health centre has stopped attending therapy sessions, simply because of the long travel time required to get from his east Burnaby home to the newly opened office at Burnaby Hospital.

The client, a man diagnosed with schizophrenia, apparently moved into the neighbourhood of the former Lougheed office because he was uncomfortable riding on public transit. Last December, when his files were transferred to the former Willingdon office, the man simply stopped attending.

"One day I found him on the street having 'an episode,'" McGregor said. "I stopped the car and talked him off the middle of the road, and found out he's not going to doctor's appointments because he won't travel by bus. And he is not alone. There's a lot of people like that."

The Burnaby NOW was also contacted by the husband of another client of the former Lougheed mental health centre, who said his wife had to be admitted to the inpatient unit of the mental health centre last week because her condition started worsening soon after she was told she would be unable to see a clinician due to the Lougheed office closure.

"There is insufficient psychiatric care," said the husband, who asked to remain anonymous. "My wife used to have a clinician, but there's absolutely no support now. I've been told to hang on tight and wait until September rolls along when that position (clinician) will be filled again, but I doubt the position will be filled because of the deletion of the Lougheed team."