Philippine Asian News Today Vol 20 No 02 | Page 30

SPORTS
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PHILIPPINE ASIAN NEWS TODAY January 16 - 31, 2018
NEW SURREY MENTAL HEALTH AND SUBSTANCE
USE URGENT CARE RESPONSE CENTRE
SURREY – Fraser Health
is creating a new Mental Health
and Substance Use Urgent Care
Response Centre in Surrey. The
centre will streamline access to
mental health and substance use
services and create clear path-
ways to care, including com-
munity appointments, short-stay
community residential stabiliza-
tion and hospital services, and
substance use treatment.
The Surrey Mental Health
and Substance Use Urgent
Care Response Centre will be
a welcoming, therapeutic envi-
ronment located on the Surrey
Memorial Hospital campus. It
will provide rapid access to care
by increasing access to psychia-
trists, expanding community
assessments to 18 hours/day
seven days a week, and reduc-
ing wait times through same-day
appointments. The centre will
provide psychiatric assessments
and crisis stabilization and sup-
port. Substance use clinicians
working expanded hours will
support people presenting with
substance use concerns includ-
ing accessing rapid induction to
opioid agonist treatment (meth-
adone and Suboxone).
“We are committed to re-
shaping the way that mental
health services are delivered in
every region across the prov-
ince,” said Judy Darcy, Minister
for Mental Health and Addictions.
“Making it easier for people who
are struggling with urgent mental
health or substance use issues
to access services in one place
means they can get the support
they need faster and start their
healing journey sooner.”
The centre will serve as
a primary point of contact for
people when they require urgent
care but do not require hospital-
ization, eliminating the need for
them to go to an emergency de-
partment. People can access the
centre directly themselves, by re-
ferral from their family physician
or if they are brought in by police
or other first responders. Sur-
rey Memorial Hospital’s Mental
Health and Substance Use Zone
saw more than 11,000 visits in
2016/17, representing a 16 per
cent increase over the previous
year. Based upon data, up to 75
percent of these patients could
be better served in the new cen-
tre, leaving the Zone available for
the most acutely ill individuals. 
“With this new centre,
people needing mental health
care or support with substance
use will have one access point
to professionals who are spe-
cially trained to treat their needs
and able to connect them to a
host of services,” said Dr. An-
son Koo, Regional Department
Head and Program Medical Di-
rector for Mental Health and
Substance Use at Fraser Health.
“The service will also better sup-
port community physicians and
first responders with real-time
consultation when people are in
crisis.”
In addition to in-person
assessments, the specialists at
the centre will use technology
to provide advice to community
physicians and first responders
as required, allowing care to be-
gin more quickly and sometimes
managing a person’s care needs
in the community, making a trip
to a hospital unnecessary. The
centre will be staffed with a mul-
tidisciplinary team comprised of
psychiatrists, psychiatric nurses,
substance use clinicians, nurses,
social workers, clinical counsel-
lors, mental health care workers,
and occupational therapists.
By locating the centre on
the Surrey Memorial Hospital
campus, the service will be in
close proximity to the emergency
department and to public transit
and patient parking, providing
excellent accessibility. Planning
is already underway for the new
centre with plans to open in
summer 2019.
The new centre supports
the work of the Ministry of Health
and the new Ministry of Mental
Health and Addictions to com-
bat the overdose crisis and save
lives. The ministry is working
with partners across sectors on
a wide range of actions – spear-
headed by the new provincial
Overdose Emergency Response
Centre – including increasing
access to life-saving naloxone
and opioid addiction treatments
such as Suboxone, methadone
and injectable hydromorphone,
opening additional supervised
consumption and overdose pre-
vention sites, expanding access
to drug checking services and
proactively identifying and sup-
porting people at risk of over-
dose into treatment. (Fraser
Health News)
How BPO workers can stay healthy on the night shift
MANILA - Night shift
workers are exposed to vari-
ous health risks, including
lower immunity from sleep
deprivation and diseases such
as diabetes and hypertension,
health advocates said Tues-
day.
The danger is more pro-
nounced in the business pro-
cess outsourcing industry,
which employs over 1 mil-
lion people, mostly answer-
ing phone calls from different
time zones.
Aside from sore throat,
cough and flu, call center
agents are also at risk from
depression, said former health
secretary Paulyn Ubial.
“The worst is that even
before you reach middle age
you’ll already have chronic
diseases like diabetes or hy-
pertension that you’ll be tak-
ing medications for the rest
of your like and it has a long-
term effect on your productiv-
ity,” Ubial said.
The Department of
Health and health care com-
pany Johnson & Johnson
launched on Tuesday “Voice
Your Care,” a health aware-
ness campaign aimed at BPO
workers.
WWW.PHILIPPINEASIANNEWSTODAY.COM
“Our collective vision is
to be able to promote health
and wellness of every BPO
agent in the Philippines be-
cause we recognize that
their work is difficult and ul-
timately, it predisposes them
to get sick,” said Johnson &
Johnson project lead Karlo
Patron.