City triage program offers help for hoarders

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This article was published 26/10/2023 (799 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A new triage system is now helping residents find assistance when city workers visit their homes and observe potential hoarding issues.

About a year ago, the Winnipeg Fire Paramedic Service established a task force to address hoarding behaviours. That group has since created a triage system to better connect people with treatment from multiple potential service providers.

WFPS Chief Christian Schmidt said the idea builds on a practice that allowed firefighters and paramedics who answered emergency calls to refer residents with potential hoarding issues to the emergency paramedics in the community program for help.

“Hundreds of times a day, we have firefighters and paramedics going into people’s homes across this city for either fire or medical calls and they make observations when they’re in the residence,” Schmidt said.

There are now more points of referral and groups to provide services, since the system was put in place earlier this year.

“(WFPS staff are) not the only city employees that have opportunity to visit people in their homes and make observations. We’ve got other workers, such as meter readers, bylaw enforcement (officers), inspectors for building inspections. All of these city employees have the opportunity to make observations. Now we have a process in place where they can send a referral to the group,” said Schmidt.

The WFPS chief said the city’s community development crisis response staff (who are trained in social work) assess the referrals, which can then be trigger a response from their team, community paramedics, the Canadian Mental Health Association, Winnipeg Regional Health Authority or A&O: Support Services for Older Adults Inc.

Schmidt noted the resident must consent to the referral.

“This isn’t something that we can force on people… but if there’s a way to connect them with community resources, we certainly want to do that,” he said.

He said hoarding behaviours can block entrances/exits that impede emergency crew access to homes or make it difficult for residents to leave, and often include piles of items that can easily catch fire and spread flames.

“In some cases, there’s garbage, newspapers, clothing. All of these things are potentially combustible. That can really increase the fire load in a building,” said Schmidt.

A city report notes 27 cases of potential hoarding were referred to the triage program between April 18 and Sept. 12. Five people ultimately declined help, nine were assisted by community crisis workers, five are still waiting for service and five others were referred to partnering agencies.

In three “other situations,” a person either died, moved, was institutionalized or could no longer be located following a referral.

Schmidt said many folks who were referred for help were 65 years of age or older and owned their own homes.

The triage system is helping groups reach out with supports for people with hoarding behaviours who may otherwise not seek help, said Stacey Miller, manager of community services for A&O Support Services for Older Adults.

“It’s not as rare as we think. I think it’s just hidden,” said Miller. “That’s why it’s so helpful to get the word out there. Our program generally has a wait list, which shows the demand that is out there for the services.”

She said renters who keep too many things are at greater risk of isolation, fire, falls and even homelessness due to the threat of eviction.

“We see it everywhere, every area of the city…. It’s across the board,” said Miller.

Hoarding disorder is considered a mental-health condition, which affects one to two per cent of the population, though that estimate may be low because the condition often goes undiagnosed, said Sheryl Giesbrecht, manager of the OCD Centre (Manitoba) for the Canadian Mental Health Association.

Giesbrecht said hoarding behaviours can be learned within a family or emerge following a trauma.

“It really is about collecting items and having a fear of letting go of (the) items…. Their environment just starts to become overwhelmed,” she said.

That behaviour can lead people to get storage lockers or even live or couch-surf at one home and devote another residence solely to storage, she added.

“When it really becomes a challenge… is when your environment can no longer hold the things that you own… their environment may become possibly bursting at the seams,” said Giesbrecht.

joyanne.pursaga@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @joyanne_pursaga