The closure of a voluntary addiction treatment program in Edmonton is devastating, say a former client and local family doctor. Henwood Treatment Centre, located in northeast Edmonton, was closed due to flooding at the end of June. Recovery Alberta says an assessment of the damage is underway. Meanwhile, Henwood’s clients are being helped in other programs, and 104 more people on an admission waitlist were contacted to discuss alternative options. Rosie Rurka entered the Henwood program in 1998 when she was 19 years old, pregnant and addicted to crack cocaine. “I was used to being judged and ostracized and I came to a place where (I was told), ‘This is about you healing,’” Rurka said in an interview on Thursday. She said Henwood helped her build a foundation for getting and staying clean. Now, she is an outreach worker in B.C. and a proud grandmother. “To go to Henwood and get that clarity that I had a disease and I had a problem, and get to speak with the counsellors and professionals and see other people also come that have been clean, changed my whole perspective. I realized I’m not a bad person; I just have a really bad problem that I need to deal with or I’m going to die,” Rurka said. Henwood took on clients seeking treatment for substance use and mental health. They lived at the facility while receiving pharmaceutical, psychiatric and medical care, as well as counselling, recreation therapy, and more. Edmonton’s Dr. Ginetta Salvalaggio said Henwood’s closure is not only a loss for those who need it, but exacerbates a shortage of voluntary treatment programs in Alberta. “Henwood is actually a respected institution; it’s one of the larger ones that we have access to and generally a trusted place with a lot of people speaking to how it helped them on their recovery journey,” Salvalaggio told CTV News Edmonton. “I think there’s this big narrative out there that people don’t want treatment, they’re not reaching out, that it’s less utilized than it should be. But obviously, with waitlists like that, you know that people are trying to get in…. Even the weeks-long wait that we already had is not OK.” As a result of Henwood’s closure, waitlists to other voluntary programs will grow even longer, Salvalaggio and Rurka both said. “Even here, we have tons of harm reduction, we have tons of band-aids like shelters and supportive housing…. But when someone comes to me and says, ‘Rosie, I want to go to detox and I want to go now’ … good luck,” Rurka said. Although Recovery Alberta called Henwood’s closure temporary, it did not provide a timeline for its reopening. “A comprehensive assessment of the extent of the damage at the Henwood Treatment Centre is underway to determine the future of the facility,” a spokesperson told CTV News Edmonton in an email. However, according to the Alberta Union of Public Employees, of the 30 permanent Henwood staff who are AUPE members, 14 were laid off while 16 were moved to other sites. Another 22 casual employees do not know their future, the union says. Employees also told the Investigative Journalism Foundation, which first reported this story, that they were told the closure was permanent. CTV News Edmonton has asked Alberta Recovery for more details about its long-term plans for Henwood. With files from CTV News Edmonton’s Miriam Valdes-Carletti
