Northern Health will be conducting a full review its several services within downtown Prince George with a specific focus on the city’s most vulnerable areas.
Penny Anguish is the Chief Operating Officer of the agency’s Northern Interior region.
She says this process is timely, considering the recent overdose crises throughout the province.
“Being able to make sure that we’ve got a service model that really responds well and supports people with mental health and addiction issues is important given the context.”
The review will be conducted with Northern Health’s external advisory committee, including:
– The City of Prince George
– Downtown Prince George
– RCMP
– BC Housing
– First Nations Health Authority
Anguish says all members will be providing her with as much information and input as possible.
“We’ll be going to the external advisory committee earlier in the process before we have the final report because we’d like to make sure that they’re imported and incorporated into that final report.”
Breaking down barriers to mental health supports w/ new digital hub, https://t.co/VMVmmBvn0k @northern_health @fnha @Interior_Health
— BC Government News (@BCGovNews) February 23, 2017
She says the meetings will be conducted over the next four months with the goal of completing by the beginning of summer.
“We just feel it’s important to give it that amount of time to make sure we come up with something people feel is very well-informed and feel that they’ve had an opportunity at least to have some input into. At the end of the day, we’re expecting to get a much better product.”
In a statement, Mayor Lyn Hall is thankful for Northern Health in starting this review and the city will continue to work with other organizations to revitalize the downtown core.
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