Abbotsford/Chilliwack/Yarrow(Global) – In September, Global News shone the spotlight on the state of the province’s mental health system after a decision was made to pull the funding from the much-needed and well-liked Mountain View residence in Abbotsford.
It was a decision that left the 25 residents of the facility and their family members feeling helpless.
On Thursday, the Fraser Health Authority (FHA) announced that Mountain View Home, which has provided 24-hour care and created a home for their residents since 1986, will be allowed to remain open with one condition.
Mountain View residents that have left will be able to return and those still at the home can stay but Fraser Health will not be filling any vacancies that may come open. That means moving forward, there will be no new residents allowed at Mountain View Home.
For Chilliwack couple Tove Olsen and Barry Johnson the news that their son, Barry Johnson Jr., who has schizophrenia and has lived at Mountain View for the last 21 years, would get to stay came as a welcome shock.
“When [he] told me my son was allowed to stay, I was in shock, I started crying,” Olsen said.
“I never completely lost control of my emotions like that. I was so happy. I keep thinking of all the people who’s helped us in this fight and i’m so grateful for all the support in the community.”
Although FHA is giving all the residents a choice of staying or returning to Mountain View, the health authority is hoping they will still take the opportunity to tour the new mental health facility in Abbotsford. The new facility is slated to open in the summer of 2016 and will create 30 Licensed Care beds, 20 Assisted Living beds and 18 Supported Independent Living beds.
The Yarrow-based Mountain View residence was notified in August 2015 that their funding from FHA would be terminated and, by Aug. 8, 2016, all residents would have to be relocated. The money used to fund Mountain View would instead be funneled into a new 50-bed mental health facility being built on Marshall Road in Abbotsford.
The closing of Mountain View would have been the second mental health facility closed in the Fraser Valley. In June 2012, Sunrise, a 30-bed residential facility was closed and residents were relocated to existing mental health beds in the Fraser Valley.
Bed to bed comparison:
Licensed Care beds offers 24-hour staffing by a registered nurse and higher regulations.
Assisted Living only offers 24-hour staff, but at reduced levels, and often with support staff instead of registered nurses.
Supported Independent Living is based on living in the community, with support ranging from once a day to every two weeks.
