Fourcast hopeful new drug treatment centre will open by spring
Paddock Wood facility will be funded by province to operate for three years
A 12-bed drug detox and treatment facility planned for Peterborough’s northeast end — mired in construction delays for more than a year — is anticipated to open in April 2025.
The location is 24 Paddock Wood, a spacious house owned by the local branch of the Canadian Mental Health Association. But the house needs extensive renovations, and construction has yet to get underway.
Alison Stagg is the program director for Fourcast, the community addiction services agency that will run the programs in the new facility.
Stagg said in an interview Thursday that the facility will be funded by the Ontario government to operate for three years, after it opens.
That’s a top-up to the two years’ worth of funding ($1.1 million) that the Ontario government had first announced in early May 2023.
The house was formerly the home of CMHA’s Safe Beds program — a non-medical program where people could seek a temporary stay in times of crisis (the program has moved downtown).
Bids are being sought now from construction firms interested in converting the house into a medical detox and treatment centre, Stagg said.
She estimates a contractor will be hired by early September, then construction is likely to take about six months.
“We really do hope that we’re able to open our doors in April — spring of 2025,” Stagg said. “You know, fingers crossed everything goes well with the renovation.”
The facility has been planned since last year.
Peterborough-Kawartha MPP Dave Smith and Associate Minister of Mental Health and Addictions Michael Tibollo first announced
‘‘
We really do hope that we’re able to open our doors in April — spring of 2025. You know, fingers crossed everything goes well with the renovation.
ALISON STAGG PROGRAM DIRECTOR FOR FOURCAST
funding — $1.1 million, to operate the centre as a two-year pilot project — on May 2, 2023.
At that time, the plan had been to open the facility by fall, 2023.
When renovations weren’t underway by the end of 2023, MPP Smith told the Examiner the house needed more upgrades than initially planned — but that the centre was expected open by the end of March, 2024.
When construction had still not begun by the end of March, Fourcast executive director Donna Rogers said in an interview that obtaining city permits — plus securing Ontario government funding — was all taking time.
Rogers had anticipated, in late March 2024, that construction could potentially happen in spring and take up to six months (for an opening by this fall).
But in her interview this week, Stagg said permits are needed to demolish some parts of the interior of the house, plus further permits are needed to renovate — and it all takes time.
“A renovation never really goes as planned, and timelines seem to be more challenging post-COVID, versus renovations pre-COVID,” she said.
Stagg said Fourcast staff have used the additional time to consult people who’ve previously sought help in residential treatment centres; the idea is to use the feedback to create a good recovery program.
“It’s really allowed us to start to fine tune and develop this program — so when we open, we feel really confident that we’re delivering an excellent service,” Stagg said.
Canada’s ongoing opioid crisis — which has worsened over recent years — has taken a toll on Peterborough.
There have been 43 suspected drug poisoning deaths in Peterborough city, county, Curve Lake and Hiawatha First Nation, from January to the end of July, 2024 (the latest data available from Peterborough Public Health).
In 2023, there was a total of 78 deaths in the same area around Peterborough — meaning the death rate hasn’t declined this year, compared to last.