Key takeaways:
- The McCullough Centre in Gunn, Alta., was shut by the region in February 2021.
- The government declared this week it would reopen as a recovery-focused treatment building.
Treatment Center shut now to be opened in Edmonton:
The previous year, a rural Alberta treatment facility for stray men shut by the regional government will reopen as an addictions rehab community.
This week, the regional government declared goals to refurbish and reopen the ex McCullough Centre at Gunn, Alta., approximately 80 kilometers west of Edmonton.
The center acted as a long-term residential treatment facility for homeless men until the region closed in February 2021, laying off 63 workers and saving the area $3 million yearly.
The facility, which sits on approximately 40 acres of land, will be refurbished to serve as an intensive addiction treatment model concentrated on recovery. It’s one of some recovery-focused centers the government is opening and will be entirely financed by the region and open to any Albertan.
Read more: Edmonton man warns customers after a 13-month delay on furniture order
The ex-team lead of the McCullough Centre says while it’s positive more services will be open, he doesn’t understand why the region opted to completely close down the facility for a year before recreating an identical facility.
“You shut a recovery community to open a recovery neighborhood,” stated social worker Michael Toepfer in an interview Thursday.
Toepfer was jobless for seven months after getting his dismissal notice, and he said other ex-colleagues have yet to find new employment. He said that back when the government was readying to close down the center, staff believed it was for financial reasons.
Even if the region wanted to go how the center worked, he doesn’t understand why they wouldn’t let citizens persist living with services while renovating in stages.
Source – cbc.ca
