New women's recovery centre groundbreaking in Barrie

A groundbreaking ceremony took place for the new Women's Residential Recovery Centre in Barrie on Friday.

The not-for-profit organization Cornerstone to Recovery will run the new 15-bedroom treatment and transitional housing facility on Dunlop Street West.

"We've been changing lives for 18 years now," said Cornerstone to Recovery executive director Blaine Hobson.

The Simcoe Muskoka health unit reports that Barrie has one of the province's highest accidental opioid death rates.

"From March 2020 to September 2021, there were 245 opioid-related deaths in our region," said Dr. Lisa Simon, Simcoe Muskoka's associate medical officer of health.

Dr. Simon said about as many local people died of opioid overdose in the first 19 months of the pandemic as those who died with COVID-19.

"Those numbers are devastating and of major concern to all of us," she remarked.

Dr. Simon said fentanyl compounded the issue of housing insecurity and addiction for those coping with trauma.

The health unit has been calling for more treatment options.

"Supervised consumption sites are absolutely part of that," Simon added. "We know they help people who use drugs. We know they help the surrounding community, and we know that Barrie needs one."

Construction on the planned 5,000 square foot women's centre is expected to begin as early as next week, with hopes of opening by August.