Dec 02, 2009 - 12:49 PM

By Jennifer Stone

OSHAWA -- Lakeridge Health shouldn't have to pay for, but must continue to provide, mental health and addiction services, the Central East Local Health Integration Network says.

Cash-strapped Lakeridge had asked the CE-LHIN to allow the corporation to start providing mental health and addiction services only to levels funded by the Province, which would have meant significant cuts to services, had the LHIN said yes.

For the last several years, Lakeridge has been subsidizing the program to the tune of about $3 million. That's an issue, given the hospital corporation has also spent the last few years attempting to dig out from a $24-million deficit.

"We've pared it down to $5.2 million," hospital spokesman Arnel Schiratti said recently. "But that's still $5.2 million we're spending that we don't have."

But, the CE-LHIN said no to the proposal to cut services, voting to allow 60 days for discussions on how to make the program "sustainable," said a motion passed by the board.

It's time to send the message loud and clear to the Ministry, said LHIN board member Stephen Kylie.

"If they're serious about maintaining these services in this area, they better provide the funding," he said.

A peer review of Lakeridge's finances indicated Lakeridge had been spending too much of its own money on the programs, noted CE-LHIN chairman Foster Loucks.

"As I recall, the peer review done a couple of years ago specifically said to Lakeridge, stop doing that, you can only provide the level of service for which you are funded," he said.

Lakeridge was left with few choices but to look at cuts, Mr. Loucks said.

"They're not doing this because they're being whimsical about it," he said. "They have in effect been subsidizing their mental health programs. What worries me is that if we can't find a way to make some adjustments ... that Lakeridge will be backed into a corner where something else will have to give.

"Lakeridge in that respect is between a rock and a hard place."

Lakeridge CEO Kevin Empey said he was "quite relieved" with the LHIN's decision.

"Putting this forward is something we didn't want to do," he said, noting talks with the Health Ministry will continue.

"I remain optimistic that we'll get some help from the government," he said.

Saying no to the cuts is good news, said Diana Brown, who credits Pinewood Addiction Support Services, offered through Lakeridge, with saving her life.

Ms. Brown was among dozens of people on hand at Tuesday's CE-LHIN meeting, carrying placards asking the LHIN not to allow cuts to Lakeridge's mental health and addiction services.

Now a 32-year-old mother who is on the verge of graduating college, Ms. Brown shudders as she thinks where she'd have been without Pinewood. She's been clean of a drug habit for three years now.

"I'd be in jail or dead probably," she said matter-of-factly. "I was homeless, I'd exhausted all my resources ... I was completely hopeless."

Now, "I'm employed, a student, a mom, I have my own home, a vehicle --- things I would never have imagined," she said.

Pinewood was "a beacon in the darkness," Ms. Brown said.