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HOpe Centre to tackle mental health New $62M facility aims to battle stigma of psychiatric illness JANE SEYD jseyd@nsnews.com
Politicians, funders and mental health advocates from the North Shore gathered Monday inside the newly completed $62-million HOpe Centre to celebrate the milestone the new facility represents. For those living with mental illness, the new centre will provide a new standard for a “respectful, dignified” place to seek treatment, said Dr. Allan Burgmann, head of Lion’s Gate Hospital’s in-patient psychiatry program. “Having mental illness is kind of like being plopped into a small boat
and cut adrift in a torrid sea,” he said. The new facility has been designed to offer a safe harbour, he said. The glass, light and air of the HOpe Centre’s design are also a powerful reminder of another mission behind the long-awaited mental health centre — to combat the stigma of mental illness and bring it into the mainstream. “The building is big and open and inviting. It’s located in the community rather than being nestled away, hidden,” said Burgmann. In addition to the 26-bed inpatient psychiatric unit, the centre will also house mental health outpatient services, the new ambulance station, a community resource centre for families on mental health issues, a clinical research trials unit and a University of British Columbia medical education centre for training See A safe page 3
Woman meets N. Van man who saved her life STEFANIA SECCIA sseccia@nsnews.com
Oleh Ilynckyj was walking through Ambleside Park to go for a swim the day of the Coho Festival, but he had no idea he was about to save someone’s life. On Sept. 7, the North Vancouver resident was heading into the water to take advantage of the last remnants of summer weather when he stopped to have a listen to Adam Woodall Band’s performance at the Coho beach bar. That’s when he looked over to see Susan Olivier making the universal symbol of someone choking – clasping her hands around her throat – and immediately asked if he could help. When she nodded in agreement, he utilized training he had received years prior and performed the Heimlich maneuver on her. By the third try, the piece of corn lodged deep in her
throat cutting off the air completely came out. “I never did get to go swimming,” Ilynckyj joked. Everything happened so quickly that Olivier didn’t get her rescuer’s name or see his face before she was rushed off to first aid by a medic. In an effort to thank the person who saved her, Olivier wrote to the North Shore News to thank her mysterious helper. When Ilynckyj responded to the letter, Olivier asked to meet so she could thank him in person. The two reunited for the first time since the incident Thursday night back in Ambleside Park, close to where they met before. “Wow, you look great,” Ilynckyj immediately said to her. “Better than the last time you See First page 5
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