The Editor,
Re. “Pre-demo work to begin” (The Tri-City News, May 25).
Thank you to Janis Warren for the update on Riverview Hospital. It is so distressing to see our provincial government tear down one of Riverview’s most viable buildings when we have never had a more urgent need for mental health care programs and facilities.
Recently, Carol Bellringer, British Columbia’s auditor general, said “adults with mental illnesses who have a long history of hospitalization and substance abuse issues need more access to services.”
Where is the compassion in this provincial government? We have no excuses to not take better care of people and Riverview is the perfect place to do that.
For years, this community has been consistent and clear: We want Riverview to remain as it was designed, for compassionate, public care for those with mental health and addiction issues. The province just refuses to listen. It appears intent on developing it because money seems to matter more than people.
There will never be a better place for therapeutic treatment than Riverview, with its wide open spaces, beautiful trees and wonderful gardens. Restoring some of the buildings has got to be more cost-effective than building new facilities.
Once Riverview is gone, we won’t ever get it back and there will never be another place like it.
Laura Dupont,
Port Coquitlam
