Mental care for locals only

“What’s your postal code?” is the first question you’d be asked if you were one of the estimated 45,000 Montreal-area citizens who needs service from one of the city’s 16 mental health care institutions.

That’s because unlike hospitals that attend to physical maladies, individual mental health institutions will only serve patients living in a designated sector. It’s a discriminatory practice that violates Article 6 of the provincial law on health and social services, according to Action Autonomie, a 10-year-old mental health advocacy group. They feel that the enforced neighbourhood mental care monopoly encourages poor service and deprives patients of choice.

“Some mental patients don’t want to go back to a certain hospital and as a result go without any mental health care, and that can have dramatic results,” says rep Ghislain Goulet. He says that in the past some patients would move to another area to gain access to a different mental health institution, but now they are only accepted at a new hospital if they’ve gone without any mental health care for six months. As a result, some spurned mental patients end up on the streets. “The one advantage to being homeless is that you have no postal code,” says Goulet. But he points out that even they have no choice regarding their institutions, as homeless in need of help are only accepted at a designated mental hospital that rotates every week or two. People wanting to switch mental health institutions can call Action Autonomie at 525-5060. :

—Kristian Gravenor