SAULT STE. MARIE -- A new addictions treatment facility is a step closer to becoming a reality in Sault Ste. Marie.

The Ford government announced Thursday it would support Sault Area Hospital's plan to move its residential withdrawal management centre out of the hospital to a location in the community.

According to the hospital's CEO, Wendy Hansson, the new site will allow the hospital to modernize treatment and improve it over time.

"The ability to move it into a community-based location, that does have the opportunity to expand and provide wraparound services into the future is optimal for our community and our patients," Hansson said.

She said the decision to move the centre inside the hospital happened last year, following a fire and flood at the original location near the city's downtown core.

The new location will also allow an increase in the total number of beds, bringing it up to 20 at the new facility.

"Prior to this, you couldn't find a consistent place to go to on a nightly basis to get treatment," said Sault MPP Ross Romano. "One night you're at the Salvation Army, another night you're at the old church on John Street, another night, you're in the west-end, another night, you're down on Queen Street."

Romano said the province would allocate $343,000 in yearly operational funding for the new centre.

But for Sault-based addictions advocacy group, Citizens Helping Addicts and Alcoholics Get Treatment (CHAAT), Thursday's announcement isn't quite what it was expecting.

Positive first step

"Last time I spoke with him (Romano), he told me that the hospital's ask included all the wraparound that the community was going to need and for comprehensive care," said Dr. Paul Hergott, founder of CHAAT. "We didn't get anything today."

Hergott said while it's a positive first step, relocating an existing facility doesn't really address the issues CHAAT has lobbied for months to be addressed.

"The existing clinics run by the hospital needs more funding, it's RAAM (Rapid Access Addictions Medicine Clinic) needs more to bring wait times down," he said. "We also have to look at follow-up, after they go and they do their detoxification, many of them have nowhere to go and they're dying."

Hergott said safe beds, or beds that allow patients to stay for 30-60 days, would help those on waitlists to get into long-term treatment centres.

A typical stay at a withdrawal management centre is three to five days.

Meanwhile, the province has yet to announce where the new facility will be located, but Romano said it could take anywhere between 8 to 12 months to complete.