Coquitlam endorses Riverview as health centre, hospital site

Riverview Hospital's West Lawn building in Coquitlam.

image credit: tri-CITY NEWS FILE PHOTO

The provincial governments decision to close Riverview Hospital in Coquitlam has led to the current serious mental health crisis in the province, a former vice-president of the 102-year-old institution says.

And on Monday, Coquitlam city council unanimously backed Dr. John Higenbottams plan, which includes construction of an acute care hospital, to rededicate the 244-acre site as a health and wellness centre to curb the trend, especially in the Lower Mainland.

Councils move came after the city spent $20,000 to hire the clinical psychologist last December to update the citys 14-year-old vision for Riverview, a site that, in its heyday, treated more than 5,000 patients with mental illnesses.

In his report Into the Future, the Coquitlam Health Campus that was released this week, Dr. Higenbottam wrote the series of deinstitutionalization programs, starting in the 1980s, saw the hospital downsized and led to its closure in 2012.

Unfortunately, this has resulted in a loss of Riverviews specialized treatment capability for the group of traditional persons with serious mental illness requiring specialized, longer-term treatment which exceeds the capabilities of community hospitals and services, he stated.

At the same time, a group of Severely Addicted Mentally Ill (SAMI) individuals has emerged who have complex treatment needs and who are now placing great pressure on hospital emergency departments and psychiatric units as well as police and social services.

In 2008 and last year, the Union of BC Municipalities called on the provincial government to reopen Riverview but at the organizations 2013 convention, Premier Christy Clark said that wouldnt happen.

With BC Housing now tasked by the province to conduct a visioning exercise for Riverview this year, Coquitlam council believes Higenbottams report will add weight.

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Coquitlam endorses Riverview as health centre, hospital site