Taking responsibility and owning up to a problem is something that doesn’t always happen in the age of passing the buck.
An unfortunate incident was resolved quickly thanks to the efforts of Change Heath Care/Canadian Addiction Treatment Centres.
On Thursday, November 1, 2018, Today’s Northumberland was notified of hundreds of methadone bottles along near Cobourg Creek between CN and CP rail lines.
Looking at them, it appeared they had been in the location for a period of time.
Most of the labels had been torn off, but on a select few you could make it some of the information including the doctors name.
Once posted on https://todaysnorthumberland.ca the story spread quickly and within hours, the Director of Operations at the Canadian Addiction Treatment Centres sent an e-mail requesting the location of the bottles.
Wilhelmina Barnes with Change Health Care was notified of the problem while she was in Belleville – on her day off.
Immediately she drove to Cobourg and was shown where the bottles were. On her hands and knees using gloves and a garbage bag, Barnes picked up two garbage bags of bottles and looked around for any that were in the area.
Barnes said the bottles had likely been thrown out with the regular garbage months ago at the clinic on Elgin Street West. Since May the organization has come up with a better way and has hired a contractor to dispose of the garbage.
This could have been a headache for many people in Cobourg, but wasn’t due to the quick actions of Change Health Care/Canadian Addiction Treatment Centres.
If the organization didn’t step up to the plate and take ownership immediately, who would have cleaned it up? Given that it is between the railway tracks, who owns the land? Whose jurisdiction does it fall under? Health Unit? Town of Cobourg? Would it had been a case because it’s out of sight, who cares?
Director of Operations for Canadian Addiction Treatment Centres, Kate Johnston said, “I am truly sorry that the incident occurred.”
Speaking with her and Barnes numerous times, it’s evident they are sorry.
This wasn’t a “mistake” or “lack of judgement” it was something that wasn’t foreseen.
But proactively the organization changed the way the garbage was picked up.
When they heard about it, they took action and cleaned it up immediately.
No passing of the buck. Barnes who was shopping at the time, dropped everything and instead of grocery shopping on her day off, she bought a pair of gloves and garbage bags and came to Cobourg to clean up the vials in the rain.
Opioid addiction is at crisis levels with no end in sight. It’s something that parts of society doesn’t want to imagine exists. But it does. And governments on every level should do more about the problems because it will not go away. We have to deal with the problem like Change Heath Care/Canadian Addiction Treatment Centres are doing.
Johnston said, “it is unfortunate that we contributed to an already stigmatized image.”
Respectfully, Today’s Northumberland disagrees with Johnston. The Canadian Addiction Treatment Centres didn’t contribute to the stigmatization that goes with opioid dependency, they contributed to publicizing when the right people are at the helm with the right organizations people take responsibility to solve the problems.
Kudos to the Change Heath Care/Canadian Addiction Treatment Centres for resolving the issue so quickly.
Author: Pete Fisher
Has been a photojournalist for over 30-years and have been honoured to win numerous awards for photography and writing over the years. Best selling author for the book Highway of Heroes - True Patriot Love
