Thompson’s rapid access to addictions medicine (RAAM) clinic has averaged more than 10 patients a month since it opened its doors at the Addictions Foundation of Manitoba (AFM) building in September.
AFM North director Gisele DeMeulles said during a May 9 public safety committee meeting that the clinic’s staff has processed a total of 99 patients who were looking to get treated for their drug addiction through counselling, medication or a referral to other community programs.
While the majority of these patients are suffering from alcohol or crack/cocaine abuse, DeMeulles mentioned that her staff has noticed an uptick in users of other drugs.
“There’s a lot of opiate users in this community and we’re starting to see an increase in our meth numbers,” she said. “We’ve also been drug testing our people that come into RAAM, and we’re seeing evidence of … meth and fentanyl in the cocaine. It’s dirty cocaine and it’s in the community.”
Even though DeMeulles said the drop-in clinic’s staff–which consists of a nurse, a doctor and two counsellors–is managing the load so far, she still wants to expand the facility’s intake hours past Tuesday mornings and Thursday afternoons.
However, this would require additional funding from the provincial government, since the AFM North director said they only paid to reallocate one doctor from the Northern Regional Health Authority.
The RAAM nurse is forced to split her time between the drop-in clinic and AFM’s withdrawal unit, which has received 45 clients so far this year.
“It’s very hard when, right now, our residential treatment program is booking into July,” said DeMeulles. “We just don’t have enough beds and the scope of the problem is not getting smaller. It’s getting more complex.”
Outside of Thompson, the provincial government established another four RAAM clinics in Manitoba late last year as a way to connect patients with addictions medicine specialists, primary care providers and community support programs more directly.
Two of these facilities are located in Winnipeg, while the remaining two are in Brandon and Selkirk.
Northern residents can access Thompson’s RAAM clinic by visiting their AFM facility, which is located at 90 Princeton Drive.
