ONTARIO PC MPPS TOUR ROYAL OTTAWA MENTAL HEALTH CENTRE
OTTAWA – Ontario PC Leader Patrick Brown joined MPP Lisa MacLeod and members of the Ontario PC Caucus to tour The Royal Ottawa Mental Health Centre (The Royal). The state of the art facility is one of Canada’s 24 research hospitals and provides training to mental health professionals, from nurses to psychologists, on the increasingly complex instances of mental illness arising in the province.
“Having stable and consistent funding for The Royal is absolutely crucial if we are to take mental health issues and research seriously,” said MPP MacLeod. “For too long mental illness has been swept under the rug. I have had the pleasure of supporting The Royal’s growth as we recognize and address the significant impacts of mental illness.”
The tour of The Royal is timely as Bill 163, Supporting Ontario’s First Responders Act (Posttraumatic Stress Disorder), 2016 passed Second Reading in the Legislature yesterday with all-party support. The Royal’s Operational Stress Injury and PTSD group has made groundbreaking strides in their research focused on how to diagnose and treat PTSD.
“Nobody should suffer the serious and debilitating challenges of PTSD in silence,” added Brown. “As we move towards addressing the struggles of PTSD in first responders at Queen’s Park, it’s encouraging to see the great work The Royal is doing here in Ottawa. As a province we need to work to combat the stigma associated with mental health, start talking and provide greater access to treatment.”
Eastern Ontario MPP Jack MacLaren (Carleton-Mississippi Mills) and PC Health Critic MPP Jeff Yurek (Elgin-Middlesex-London) joined MacLeod and the Ontario PC Leader.
The MPPs toured the geriatric ward, considered one of the best in the world, that deals with aggressive behaviours, psychotic depression and trains professionals on how to work with neurological diseases such as dementia. They also visited the substance abuse ward, where a large focus is on prescription drug abuse, and providing resources for the rising instances of fentanyl abuse.