{"id":41640,"date":"2023-06-23T01:45:55","date_gmt":"2023-06-23T08:45:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/?p=41640"},"modified":"2023-06-22T08:23:05","modified_gmt":"2023-06-22T15:23:05","slug":"help-with-road-to-recovery","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/2023\/06\/23\/help-with-road-to-recovery\/","title":{"rendered":"Help with road to recovery"},"content":{"rendered":"

Left to right: Jill Diamond, Lauri Glotman, Leslie Diamond, Gordon Diamond and Steven Diamond, in 2014. (photo from\u00a0St. Paul\u2019s\u00a0Foundation)<\/em><\/p>\n

The Diamond family is speaking publicly about the tragic loss of Steven Diamond \u2013 a cherished father, son, brother and addictions counselor killed by fentanyl in 2016 \u2013 and honouring his life with a\u00a0$20 million\u00a0donation to St. Paul\u2019s\u00a0Hospital. The gift both memorializes Steven Diamond\u2019s legacy and funds a first-in-Canada model of treatment that could transform addictions care across the country.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re speaking out today for the first time because we want to save lives,\u201d said Jill Diamond, Steven\u2019s sister and executive director of the Diamond Foundation, when the donation was announced last week. \u201cNo matter where we turned, we never found the help that Steven needed. If he had access to the care now being developed at\u00a0St. Paul\u2019s\u00a0Hospital with this new initiative, he might still be with us here today.\u201d<\/p>\n

One of the key factors driving substance use-related harms in\u00a0British Columbia\u00a0is the lack of a seamless system of care to support people with addiction. Gaps failing to connect prevention, treatment and recovery mean that people are unable to access the supports they need, when and where they need them.<\/p>\n

The Diamond Foundation\u2019s\u00a0$20 million\u00a0gift to\u00a0St. Paul\u2019s\u00a0Foundation will fund development of the new\u00a0Road to Recovery\u00a0at\u00a0St. Paul\u2019s\u00a0Hospital, a first-in-Canada\u00a0model of care that aims to fill these gaps.\u00a0Road to Recovery\u00a0will cut weeks off waitlists and support patients to move through a full spectrum of treatment services all in one location. It will eventually house 95 beds for seamless transition between all stages of the recovery journey \u2013 from the Rapid Access Addiction Clinic through withdrawal management, in-patient recovery-focused beds, transitional housing, outpatient treatment and more. The first beds, focused on stabilization, will open in fall of 2023.<\/p>\n

\u201cRoad to Recovery\u00a0began as a vision for a full continuum of substance use care within a single setting at\u00a0St. Paul\u2019s Hospital, so that people can access the evidence-based addiction care they need, when they need it. Addiction medicine clinicians like myself know that being able to refer someone to the appropriate service and then provide follow-up care is integral to supporting their wellness, but is rarely an option,\u201d said Dr.\u00a0Seonaid Nolan, physician program director for Providence Health Care\u2019s Addiction Program and clinician scientist with the B.C. Centre on Substance Use.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe\u00a0Road to Recovery\u00a0will now make this possible,\u201d Nolan continued. \u201cI am so incredibly grateful to the Diamond family and foundation for their extraordinary generosity and their shared vision for a better model of substance use care. Their kindness and leadership have played a significant role in making the\u00a0Road to Recovery\u00a0a reality.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Diamond Foundation\u2019s gift is made in honour of\u00a0Steven Diamond, who is remembered as an \u201cimmeasurably giving\u201d addictions counselor and massage therapist with a \u201chealing touch.\u201d While his life was punctuated with long periods of sobriety and joy, he\u00a0faced a prolonged struggle with substance use disorder that saw him in and out of treatment for years.<\/p>\n

During his most distressing moments, the Diamond family says he encountered a messy system of delays and disappointments. Finally, the 53-year-old was placed on a three-month waitlist to see a B.C. addiction psychiatrist. He was killed by fentanyl less than a week before that scheduled appointment.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis tragedy clearly shows our healthcare system was not and is not up to the task,\u201d said\u00a0Jill Diamond. \u201cSteven was a well-sought-after addictions counselor with expertise in the field, and family means to pay for recovery. The fact that even he couldn\u2019t get well, despite giving his entire life\u2019s effort, shows addiction is a disease that must be looked at medically with new models of care. That\u2019s what today is about.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThis donation demonstrates the power of philanthropy to drive systemic change,\u201d said\u00a0Dick Vollet, president and chief executive officer of\u00a0St. Paul\u2019s\u00a0Foundation. \u201cDespite the most difficult circumstances, the Diamond family is bravely stepping forward to help fix a broken system \u2013 and giving families hope there is a path to recovery.\u201d<\/p>\n

But this\u00a0$20 million\u00a0donation is the beginning, not the end. With the Diamond Foundation\u2019s leadership gift in place, the provincial government has committed\u00a0$60.9 million\u00a0toward operating costs.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Road to Recovery\u00a0\u2026 is crucial for the one in six people at\u00a0St. Paul\u2019s\u00a0Hospital who experience substance use disorder,\u201d said Fiona Dalton, president and chief executive officer of Providence Health Care, expressing gratitude \u201cto the Diamonds for this generous gift. And we\u2019re grateful to the provincial government and our healthcare partners for investing in and supporting this important initiative.\u201d<\/p>\n

Further, it\u2019s hoped the Diamonds\u2019 act of philanthropy inspires the public to donate as well.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe want the public to take action and understand that substance use disorder is not a moral failing, nor a weakness, nor a choice,\u201d said Jill Diamond, noting the gift is a demonstration of the family\u2019s Jewish values. \u201cAs with\u00a0tikkun olam, we hope this act of kindness helps to repair the world. As found in the Talmud: \u2018Whoever saves a single life is considered to have saved the entire world.\u2019 We have lost our beloved Steven, but we hope we can save lives and positively impact the world. This is a disease that can come for anyone \u2013 including you and those you love. While ours was not a success story, we want to rewrite history for others.\u201d<\/p>\n

To donate, visit helpstpauls.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u2013 Courtesy St. Paul\u2019s\u00a0Foundation<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Left to right: Jill Diamond, Lauri Glotman, Leslie Diamond, Gordon Diamond and Steven Diamond, in 2014. (photo from\u00a0St. Paul\u2019s\u00a0Foundation) The Diamond family is speaking publicly about the tragic loss of Steven Diamond \u2013 a cherished father, son, brother and addictions counselor killed by fentanyl in 2016 \u2013 and honouring his life with a\u00a0$20 million\u00a0donation to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":41643,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[9543,2310,22281,1997,2763,22424,5254,22423,22425],"class_list":["post-41640","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-local","tag-diamond-foundation","tag-diamonds","tag-jill-diamond","tag-mental-health","tag-philanthropy","tag-road-to-recovery","tag-st-pauls-hospital","tag-steven-diamond","tag-substance-use-disorder"],"blocksy_meta":{"styles_descriptor":{"styles":{"desktop":"","tablet":"","mobile":""},"google_fonts":[],"version":8}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41640","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=41640"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41640\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/41643"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=41640"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=41640"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=41640"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}