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Several workers at the low-barrier shelter in North Bay have expressed health and safety concerns in anonymous letters to Catherine Matheson, CAO of the District of Nipissing Social Services Administration Board (DNSSAB), and board members with Nipissing Mental Health Housing and Support Services.
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In letters obtained by The Nugget prior to a shelter worker being stabbed with a syringe Thursday, the workers complain about unsafe conditions, violence and lack of programming at the city’s emergency shelter.
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A man is in custody after a person was stabbed in the back with a syringe Thursday evening.
North Bay police said the incident was reported shortly before 9 p.m. at “an address in the 500 block of Chippewa Street West in North Bay.”
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The low-barrier shelter and transitional housing at the former OPP station on Chippewa Street West is overseen by the District of Nipissing Social Services Administration Board. The facility is operated and staffed by Nipissing Mental Health Housing and Support Services.
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A stabbing incident at the low-barrier shelter Thursday night is “certainly unnerving,” but played no part in a decision by Nipissing Mental Health Housing and Support Services to no longer operate the facility by May 1. It did, however, play a role in the agency announcing its decision Friday, CEO Mary Davis admits.
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“We have been having ongoing conversations with DNSSAB about the service, but last night’s incident certainly led us to make the decision public sooner than we had anticipated,” Davis says.
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The warming centre is officially open.
The District of Nipissing Social Services Administration Board (DNSSAB) made the announcement Wednesday, after more than a week of construction delays.
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The warming centre was initially scheduled to open last week.
“These services close a gap for people and provide a warm place to go during the day, in addition to connecting people to the services they may need,” said DNSSAB chairman Mark King.
Two new daytime programs, in addition to overnight shelter services, provide 24-hour out-of-the-cold service to the vulnerable population in Nipissing District.