A Kamloops city councillor says the city is still continuing to push for an expansion to the Car-40 mental health program as well as a sobering centre.
Dale Bass says it is up to Interior Health to expand the Car-40 program and she says the ongoing provincial election will likely slow things down.
“Ministers [Judy] Darcy and [Adrian] Dix did not respond to seven emails sent to them asking for input on the status of the sobering centre business case we gave them or of the interest in expanding the Car-40 program,” she told NL News. “We’re pressing on. RCMP, council, the RIH Foundation, we are all pressing on to try to get that moved on as well.”
Car 40 is a program that pairs a mental-health practitioner with an RCMP officer as they respond to calls involving mental-health situations. Calls for the program increased by 36 per cent to 488 in the first six months this year when compared to the 312 calls in 2019.
“IHA has to make the move on this,” Bass added. “This is an ongoing process. This is not something that is going to happen overnight even though I want it to.”
“This is going to take some time to make the case, even though the statistics seem to show the need – to make the case with IHA that we need to deal with these issues, just like other communities have been allowed to deal with these issues. They’ve had it more than a year, so we’ll just keep at them until they deal with it.”
Fellow Councillor Mike O’Reilly previously told NL News that the issue has gone on far too long and businesses and residents are bearing the brunt of the lack of mental health services in Kamloops.
“Right now, Car 40 operates 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. and that’s not necessarily when mental health crises happen, they happen around the clock,” O’Reilly said.
Last month, Interior Health told NL News that there were meetings scheduled to review what may be needed to support the people in need of mental health support. It hasn’t said one way or the other if it will support expanding the program.
“Challenges related to mental health and policing are being experienced across B.C. and Canada and are not unique to Interior Health. Interior Health is meeting with partners to discuss services that support people in a mental health crisis,” a statement sent to NL News last month said.
“We share a commitment to continue to work together with police and others on effective solutions for people who require urgent mental health support. We must look at the whole picture, including the specific needs of the community and how to make the best use of available resources.”
