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SPOTL SPOT SPOTLIGHT LIGHT The Similkameen
Wednesday, January 13, 2016
Volume 65 Issue 2
Proudly serving the community since 1948 • www.similkameenspotlight.com
Mental health clients evicted from home Andrea DeMeer Spotlight Staff
It was a less than Happy New Year for mental health and addiction patients in Princeton when they learned they had just one month to vacate Anchorage House, the longstanding home of the community’s drop in center. However they needn’t be afraid the services they’ve come to rely on will disappear along with their clubhouse. According to managers at Interior Health a new location for the center will be found. “We certainly are quickly scrambling to find community partners so we can continue to provide our programs,” said Joseph Savage, manager of adult programs for mental health services in Penticton. “This is not a cost saving exercise at all. We are not looking to save costs or reduce services here. We are looking for ways to provide this service despite the fact that we’ve lost our current home,” he said. “I do want to emphasize the commitment we have to the clients we have in Princeton.” Anchorage House is open four days each week, from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. and provides a variety of programming for drop in clients. For several years it has operated out of a rented home on Veteran’s Boulevard, but that property was recently sold and the new owner does not wish to have tenants, said Savage. “It was sudden notice, 30 days and we’re very busy trying to pack up what’s there and make a move. We will do the very best we can on an interim basis until we secure new space.” Anchorage House employs a part time coordinator who is assisted by two occupational rehabilitation workers and a group of volunteers. According to Savage it sees an average
of six clients a day. Ann Hughes, a long time client and volunteer at the center, said she will be sad to leave the Anchorage home. “It’s a beautiful facility and we’ve been so fortunate to have it for the last few years,” she said. “We planted a beautiful garden last year and I planted two long rows of Red Russian Garlic and there they sit, my babies under the snow. We had a big kitchen herb garden and lots of flowers. We had plans to expand that into individual plots for the clients who wanted to garden but it’s not going to happen now.” Hughes described the activities offered at Anchorage as varied, with lots of direction from the clients themselves. “Activities are suggested and it depends on who is a member at that time. A lot of people are there for a few months or a year or two and then they are up and on their feet.” Exercise classes, walking groups, a bowling team, art therapy and card games are some of the most popular pastimes for clients. As well the kitchen serves a homemade lunch twice a week, usually attracting up to 12 people. Hughes often cooks for the communal meals. “No one is ever turned away. Anyone who wants to sit down and eat with us is welcome. That provides a social event twice a week for people like myself. Participating in the drop-ins and especially cooking really helped keep me social enough so that my depression and chronic pain didn’t increase. Those two meals also help provide food security for the most vulnerable people in town.” Hughes said many Anchorage clients have been helped enormously by the rehab workers who spend a lot of their time sorting continued page 2
Weather Watch
Andrea DeMeer
Interior Health was given just 30 days to vacate Anchorage House, a drop in center for mental health and addiction patients.
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