July 2018

332 333 EDGEWOOD HEALTH NETWORK provincial government of Ontario. “The Canada Health Act mandates that every provincial government must provide insurance for hospitals and physicians to all of its citizens,” explains Cara Vaccarino, Chief Operating Offi- cer. “The individual provinces would administer the provincial health plan and finance hospitals and physicians according to various contracts. The problem with the public health care sys- tem, speaking specifically of mental health and addictions, is that, through the years, there have been major cutbacks in publicly-funded options for inpatients across Canada. And when there are publicly-funded options available, whether they be inpatient or outpatient options, there is also typically a very long wait time, and people rarely get the right treatment in the right place at the right time. Most inpatient facilities across the country that are publicly funded are short-term stabilization beds. So, typically, the patients are admitted through the emergency department in acute psychological crisis for any- where from three to ten days for stabilization and then, ideally, they are discharged to a lower level of care. The problem is that those lower levels of care also face huge backlogs and access issues. So, we have seized an opportunity at EHN Canada to really provide options and service for people in Canada to receive state-of-the-art, excellent, evidence-based treatment. And, really, there is nothing comparable in the public system at all. Most patients do not have access to evidence- based care such as Cognitive Behavioral Therapy or Dialectical Therapy which are not covered by Provincial Health Plans.” People seeking treatment are also be- ing seen in a more holistic way. A lot of treatment centers were originally conceived of treating alcoholism. These days, the prob- lems and the treatments are far more complex. “To be quite honest, that kind of old school alcohol- ic is a rare occurrence,” Vaccarino points out. “Now- adays we know through the literature that people who abuse alcohol are also more likely to be po- ly-substance abusers, meaning that they abuse more substances beyond alcohol and I would say more than poly-substance abuse, what we are seeing as a trend is the higher rate of concurrent mental illness. And, by the time people are acute enough to need residential or inpatient treatment, they come to care with a number of complexities. So, not only, for exam- ple, will they have an opiate abuse disorder, but also major depression, or bipolar diagnosis. So we have been very strategic across EHN Canada to build huge capacity around mental health and psychiatric care.” EHN is also trying to treat the larger issue, and recognize the holistic health of the individual. This usually involves including family dynamics and rel- atives in the treatment protocol. “We see that family