By Kelvin Gawley
A group of mental health patients who recently moved in across the street from an Abbotsford elementary school have raised concerns among some parents of students, but Fraser Health says the patients pose no threat to schoolchildren.
The Alpine Motor Inn, directly across Marshall Road from the Abbotsford School of Integrated Arts’ (ASIA) North Poplar campus, is home to approximately a dozen people participating in a Fraser Health outpatient program that brings services like psychiatrists, social workers and nurses to their place of residence.
Leora Dick said she has been growing increasingly concerned with “transient” people her child may come into contact with around the school. She said she has noticed a significant increase in such individuals and has seen them coming and going from the inn.
“There have been several strung-out drug addicts around the kids,” said Dick. “In the morning yesterday, one was attempting to cross the street amongst all the morning kid traffic.”
Jennifer Shmidtke, the owner of Snipit’s Hair Studio, a block away from the school and inn, said she had noticed an increase in drug dealing and use in the area, both of which she attributes to the inn’s new clientele. She said she had recently found a man on her back porch, trying to steal her belongings.
“I’ve never seen it this bad in 27 years of living in this neighbourhood,” she said.
The concerns have been echoed by several parents who have spoken to The News, some asking to remain anonymous. They have described the individuals they’ve seen coming and going from the Alpine as “not outstanding members of society,” “homeless,” and “drug addicts.”
The Abbotsford Police haven’t seen an increase in calls regarding the area, and not all ASIA North Poplar parents share the safety concerns.
Jennifer Lovett, who has been taking her sons to ASIA North Poplar for the last 11 years, uses the Alpine’s parking lot to drop off and pick up her son (parents are allowed to do so through an agreement between the school district and the inn’s owner). She said she has never had a negative experience there, and is angry with parents who stereotype mental health patients as being dangerous.
Lovett, who works 50 to 60 hours a week as a care aide, often with mental health patients, said she has never felt threatened, and that parents who think people with mental illnesses are dangerous are simply ignorant.
“Before you make accusations, get your information right.”
Lovett said other parents should set an example to their children by acting kindly towards people they encounter who may be talking to themselves or acting out a mental illness.
“This is a Bible-belt community — with a church on every corner — judging people,” she said. “If you’re a religious person … the only person that’s suppose to judge you is God, at the end of the day.”
Pat McDermott, a crossing guard at ASIA, said he had noticed some new Alpine residents whom he believed to have “some kind of problems. I haven’t seen these people bugging the kids,” he said. “I am not concerned.”
Perry Mandzuk, who has stayed at the Alpine for the last two months, described the individuals as “a unique bunch, but a safe bunch.”
Tasleem Juma, a Fraser Health spokesperson, said the program’s participants have the right to be at the inn.
“These individuals are appropriate to be in the community.”
All participants in the program actively sought treatment and have contact with treatment and support on a daily basis. This is important to note, as the majority of cases where a mentally ill individual is violent, is when that illness is untreated, according to Juma.
Juma said there are about 55 people receiving outpatient care for mental illness in the Abbotsford area, most of whom live in market housing. Those living at the Alpine are there because they are on “limited incomes.”
Stable and consistent housing is a key priority for mental health patients, said Juma.
Ana Novakovic, a policy and government relations coordinator with the British Columbia Schizophrenia Society (BCSS), says stable housing is key to the welfare of mental health patients, but in her view, a motel does not constitute stability.
Novakovic said that an inn like the Alpine likely isn’t a long-term home for the mental health patients, and having to move regularly can negatively affect them, potentially causing relapses and panic attacks when they learn they have to move.
“A hotel doesn’t sound like long-term housing and each time someone has to leave from one housing unit to another, it really impedes their recovery,” said Novakovic.
On March 10, the school’s principal sent an email to parents in response to discussions reported to her by a teacher. The email referred to parents saying there were homeless and drug-addicted people living at the Alpine as “rumour mongering.”
Several parents who spoke with The News said they wished the school district had informed them of the Fraser Health program and the Alpine’s new residents.
The district released a statement in response to these concerns: “While the district was unaware of the arrangement that has now come to light between Fraser Health and the Alpine Inn to provide accommodations for a small group of individuals, we acknowledge their right to make such placements.”
Jacqueline Blackwell, a senior public affairs consultant with Fraser Health, said the health authority did not inform the school district because it had no duty to do so and if it did, no matter how the information was relayed, it would likely be perceived as an admission that the patients were potentially dangerous.
Novakovic said she believes that such a communication could have been helpful and that her organization would have been glad to provide educational programs for the children and parents, had they been approached by either Fraser Health or the district. She said her organization often makes presentations involving an individual with mental illness, a family member of a mental health patient and an educator. These presentations can help people understand why someone with a mental illness may be acting “strangely” and how to interact with them in an empathetic way, she said.
“We’ve found these presentations to be incredibly effective,” said Novakovic.
The Canadian Mental Health Association (CMHA), which also provides educational programs for schools, would also be glad to arrange an educational program with the Abbotsford school district, but not based on specific situations like the one at the Alpine and ASIA North Poplar, according to the organization’s local director, Michael Anhorn.
He said if educational programs only came about when mental health patients lived near schools, it would serve to reinforce perceptions about that segment of the population being more violent or dangerous, which he said is entirely untrue.
He said if educational programs only came about when mental health patients lived near schools, it would serve to reinforce perceptions about that segment of the population being more violent or dangerous, which he said is entirely untrue.
“We don’t know who moves into our neighbourhood, ever, and I’m not sure why it would be different with someone with a mental illness,” he said. “Education needs to be separated from the individuals.”
