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Rally to save Mountain View Home Saturday

Group home for those with serious mental health issues on Chilliwack/Abbotsford border won't take new patients
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Residents of Mountain View Home on Boundary Road were relieved last week to hear Fraser Health reversed its decision to close the group home for those with serious mental health conditions.

Residents, family members and the owners of a group home for folks with serious mental health issues slated for closure won a battle in February, but the war goes on.

In August 2015, residents of Mountain View Home on Boundary Road next to Yarrow were told the facility would close August 2016.

Families of the 25-bed home situated in a rural setting were upset about the disruption to lives. Some clients have lived at Mountain View for decades, and a move to a 50-bed mental health facility in Abbotsford could have been traumatic and challenging for the many Chilliwack families of clients.

But on Feb. 25 relief came in the form of news from Fraser Health that those at Mountain View will not have to move.

“It is a big step in the right direction,” said director of care Patrick Newby. “All of us (residents, family, staff, community) are ecstatic.”

A rally scheduled for March 19 originally planned to protest the coming closure turned into a celebration for those relieved they could stay.

There is, however, still a reason to rally and fight on, as Fraser Health has promised not to move the residents, but if residents leave for whatever reason, those beds will not be refilled.

“[The rally] will be a celebration, however, our goal is to fill the three vacant beds, and keep all 25 filled for those who require licensed residential care,” Newby told the Times.

The rally to oppose the closure of the beds is at Mountain View Home March 19 from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. and will feature a number of speakers and a barbecue lunch.

Those hoping to keep Mountain View Home open are using the social media hashtag #MyLifeMyChoice.