Rick Wilson (O'Connor, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Last week I officially opened the Goldfields Rehabilitation Service Inc. detoxification unit. Back in 2019 the federal government provided $1.5 million to help fight the war on drugs and alcohol in the Goldfields after a damning 2017 report found Kalgoorlie-Boulder had the highest rate of methamphetamine use in WA. Seven hundred and seventy thousand dollars of this federal funding immediately activated seven unused beds, enabling the 18-bed residential rehabilitation facility to become fully operational. The remaining $785,000 kick-started the GRSI four-bed medical detoxification facility, which now provides medically supervised withdrawal from alcohol and other drugs. Over the years I've watched GRSI evolve into a state-of-the-art medical detoxification and residential rehabilitation facility. I'm so very proud of executive manager Jane Fajardo and her team, and I was thrilled to catch up with them last week to congratulate them on their terrific efforts. It was also an opportunity to meet some of the program participants and hear their glowing endorsements of how this program is helping them to turn their lives around. Whilst COVID-19 has delayed the opening of the medical detoxification facility, it has not stopped the hardworking GRSI folk from supporting patients through up to 14 days of medical detox, up to 15 weeks of residential rehab and outreach services. Again, my congratulations to Jane and her GRSI team for their terrific work supporting the journey out of addiction for residents of the Goldfields and beyond.