New walk-in clinics in Barrie and Orillia to help people with addictions
The Royal Victoria Regional Health Centre is opening new walk-in clinics to better serve people fighting addictions.
Two new rapid access addiction medicine (RAAM) service centres in Barrie and Orillia officially opened on June 25, and a third is set to open in Midland in July.
“People can come and get some help related to their addictions,” explained Angela McCuaig, manager of Royal Victoria Regional Health Centre’s outpatient mental health and addiction services. “That can be anything from some brief counselling, some information about treatment centres, or they might need medication to help them that day with some of their struggles.”
An interprofessional staff consisting of counsellors, nurse practitioners, social workers, and more help identify a treatment plan and connect individuals with community services, such as the Canadian Mental Health Association or local housing supports.
“It’s for any individual or family member who is concerned about their substance use problem, or a family member’s,” said McCuaig. “It’s not a clinic where we keep people long term but we want to provide a place where people can come and get that help right away.”
When people struggling with the effects of addictions decide to seek help, that immediacy is important, McCuaig said.
“When they need to talk to somebody … when they are ready, they want to have somebody available.”
The RAAM services are being offered in response to a spike in opioid overdoes across the province, McCuaig said, noting the North Simcoe/Muskoka Local Health Integration Network (LHIN), the regional authority that provides funding for health services, received $1.6 million to fund RAAM services in this area.
While June 25 was the official launch, the two locations have been open for a week and the Barrie location has already had one client.
The Barrie RAAM service centre is located 70 Wellington St. W. The Orillia RAAM service centre is located at 169 Front St. S.
If you can’t make it to those physical locations, the RAAM service centres can serve you online through the Ontario Telemedicine Network (OTN)
“We want to make sure the people we can’t get here, we can get to them.”
For more information, call or toll free at 1-833-797-3095.