A fourth year student at the University of Manitoba from the Dryden area has taken a close look at the mental health challenges facing area communities as a result of COVID-19.
Kaylee Spalding has released her Op-Ed policy paper showing how our mental health continues to decline.
Spalding’s paper takes a look at potential options to fix a broken system.
It includes a call for more physicians, nurses, and a minimum of one consistent psychiatrist in our direct communities as well as a coordinated and community effort to work together.
Spalding also talks about the need for a separate “emergency room” service specifically for mental health or addiction crises.
She adds greater communication between health care providers is needed.
You can read her full Op-Ed on “North-Western Ontario Mental Health Moving Forward” below.
North-Western Ontario Mental Health Moving Forward
We are in confusing and difficult times right now, and it should come as no surprise that our mental health is declining. According to Rural and Northern Community Issues in Mental Health, “Compared to the provincial average, Northern Ontario residents have higher self-reported rates of “fair or poor” mental health.” I come from a small community in North-western Ontario and have seen firsthand how my community members have struggled with mental health availability and access, myself included. Northern Ontarians also self-report higher rates of depression. Did you know that the hospitalization rate for Northern Ontario is twice that of the provincial rate? (“Rural and Northern Community Issues in Mental Health”, n.d.) That was before Covid-19 as well.
Since we have disproportionately fewer physicians practicing in our small communities, many individuals routinely travel elsewhere to access mental health and addiction services. These individuals are then discharged from urban area hospitals without an adequate discharge plan. They are leaving us back at square one. This process becomes exhausting over time, and people continue to ask why those struggling with mental health and addictions don’t reach out for help. Right now, especially, travelling is highly suggested against making it even harder to access the limited resources we have. So, how can we fix this?
Well, let’s start with access. We need more physicians, nurses, and a minimum of one consistent psychiatrist in our direct communities. I understand this is difficult to accomplish, but we can achieve great things by working together as a community. When times get tough, we rally; think back to our communities’ losses due to those affected by addictions and mental health in our communities.
I believe we should implement a separate “emergency room” service solely for mental health or addiction crises. Our emergency rooms often have mental health or addiction-related issues- whether they require assistance or medication refills. By creating a separate unit for Mental health and addictions, we open up more room for those with physical emergencies while also tending to those with mental health at the same time. In 2004/2005, emergency rooms for psychiatric reasons in northern Ontario were more than double the Ontario average.
Communication is key! We have all heard this saying before, and it’s true. To truly benefit from seeking care, there must be a plan implemented and services followed up by both the physician and the patient. The physicians need a better communication method with other care providers like psychiatrists, nurses, and other team members to help patient care. When managing medication and severe mental illnesses, the patient requires multiple supports, and this requires a lot of communication to allow the treatment to flow appropriately. Otherwise, like what’s currently happening, we’ll have a gap in medicine, which affects the efficiency of seeking care outside our communities when we simply wind back up at square one.
Mental health and addictions relate to social work as the social policy concern is the availability of a service. According to Sherman, “Availability” refers to the simple presence or absence of a provider or service or services that are geographically or “potentially accessible”. This value addresses the belief that resources, services and opportunities should be made readily available for all community members. After reading this Op-Ed, I hope you understand why our availability needs to improve and how we can make this change. Availability is required now more than ever to help our community members stay healthy and happy.
References
History of Mental Health Reform. Ontario.cmha.ca. Retrieved October 23rd 2020, from https://ontario.cmha.ca/provincial-policy/health-systems-transformation/history-of-mental-health-reform/.
Rural and Northern Community Issues in Mental Health. Ontario.cmha.ca. Retrieved October 23rd 2020, from https://ontario.cmha.ca/documents/rural-and-northern-community-issues-in-mental-health/.
Sherman, J., Pong, R., Swenson, J., Delmege, M., Rudnick, A., & Cooke, R. et al. (2010). Mental Health Services in Smaller Northern Ontario Communities: A Survey of Family Health Teams (pp. 1,7- 9, 19, 23, 24). Sudbury, ON.
Matsumoto, C., O’Driscoll, T., Lawrance, J., & Jakubow, A. (2016). A 5-year retrospective study of emergency department uses in Northwest Ontario: a measure of mental health and addictions needs. Cambridge University. Retrieved October 23rd 2020
CASW Code of Ethics. (2005). https://www.caswacts.ca/sites/default/files/attachements/casw_code_of_ethics.pdf.”
