Mental health and addiction reorganization saves 30 local jobs

The lay off notices for 30 positions at the North Bay Regional Hospital have been cancelled according to the president of the hospital Paul Heinrich.

See: Residential addiction treatment program layoffs begin

The notices went out to CUPE workers at the North Bay Regional Health Centre related to the defunding of the 29-bed in-hospital residential addiction treatment program last month.

"We're cancelling the layoffs we announced previously," Heinrich told BayToday."We just informed our staff this morning that the layoffs are cancelled and the staff, I'm told are pretty excited about the new programming that's going to be offered at that (King St.) site and they say it's like a refresh. I think the fact that there is so much attention, good or bad on this issue, for us that's really important that so much interest has been drawn to such an important topic."

It was confirmed this morning that the North Bay Regional Health Centre (NBRHC) is the preferred operator of community withdrawal management services (WMS) and safe beds at a central location in North Bay.

See: North Bay Regional Hospital to operate Community Withdrawal Management Services 

"It bodes well for our ability to be able to advocate for our residents based on the fact we've done a lot of great things in this community and a lot of leaders have raised the profile on a really important array of services. We couldn't be more thrilled for our staff and for the residents of this community on this day."