The permanent CTS site will open on Oct. 14 in Kitchener

On October 15, 2019, The Interim Consumption and Treatment site (CTS) began operations on the second floor of 150 Duke Street West. 

Since then, there has been ongoing work to get a permanent facility open. “Almost one year later to the day, we are happy to announce the permanent site will open on October 14, 2020,” said Medical Officer of Health, Dr. Hsiu-Li Wang. 

The permanent facility will be at the same location as the interim location but will utilize the first floor, which will make the CTS more accessible to anyone. 

“The interim site was on the second floor, and there's no elevator in the building, so it was not accessible unfortunately for the past year, and with the permanent site it will be fully accessible,” said Grace Bermingham, Manager of Harm Reduction for Region of Waterloo. 

Before the pandemic, the interim site had two consumption booths, and with the permanent site that has increased to five, with four standard booths, and one accessible booth.

“In addition to that we have a private consumption booth, which is in a separate space altogether, and is monitored with a live feed to the nursing station, so that's pretty unique and is a vast increase in the number of clients that can be cared for at one time,” said Bermingham. 

The main floor will also have a primary care clinic room, as well as an assessment room, which can be used for mental health counselling, and other services. 

While the site will be located in Kitchener, Bermingham said there is also a need for a CTS in Cambridge. “It was identified that there is a need for consumption services in two locations, and that's in alignment with the number of overdoses we were seeing as per 911 calls, so the first was in downtown Kitchener, and the second was in downtown Cambridge.” 

Bermingham mentioned that they continue to work with City of Cambridge officials as the process to develop a site in that part of Waterloo Region continues.