There will be lots of activity on the sixth floor of Bluewater Health's Russell St. building this week.
Mental Health & Addictions Vice President Paula Reaume-Zimmer says workers will start transforming an area in the addictions services department to house as many as seven temporary withdrawal management beds.
"Withdrawal management staff will begin to move out of the space and we will start renovations once the space has been vacated," says Reaume-Zimmer. "The renovations are minor. We chose the space specifically so that we can expedite the start up as quickly as we can."
She says they're still developing an intake process for patients.
"We do have the outpatient community withdrawal management program and they will be key in being the door to the bedded services and certainly it's very common for emergency department patients to be identified as candidates who are appropriate for this service as well," says Reaume-Zimmer.
Reaume-Zimmer says typically demand for services increases after the holidays.
"It seems that people have adjusted back into a normal routine where sometimes the addictions and the subsequent effects of the addictions seems to become more apparent again and some people make some major life decisions at the start of a new year, which sometimes bring them to a point of withdrawal management or addictions services to make some changes," says Reaume-Zimmer.
She says interviews have begun to hire approximately six new staff.
The new beds will be available in Sarnia-Lambton by mid-January, 2018.