GUELPH, Ont. — A campus alcohol recovery room at the University of Guelph dedicated to helping students sober up after a bout of heavy drinking helps ease hospital pressure, a health administrator says.
The recovery room, which will be open for St. Patrick's Day celebrations from 10 p.m. on Saturday to 6 a.m. on Sunday, helps divert patients who don’t need an emergency department visit, Andrea de Jong says.
De Jong, the director of Guelph General Hospital's emergency department, said the program is helpful on days when an influx of patients are expected.
"We already see higher volume on these days," she said.
"If it's a handful of people that are in the recovery room at the University of Guelph instead of coming to (emergency), we know that's more bed space available in the (emergency department) for us to manage our volume."
The six-bed program, which has been offered since 2017, is confidential and voluntary. Students can leave at any time, with nurses and addiction support workers staffing the room.
The staff assess, monitor and support students until they are well enough to return home.
In a statement, the university said its aim is to prevent strain on the local hospital.
"It typically opens three times per year for occasions when there may be a higher likelihood of alcohol consumption among students," a university spokeswoman, Jessamine Luck, said in a statement.
"Opening these spaces on university campuses is a harm reduction method of addressing overconsumption."
De Jong added that the hospital specifically plans for events, such as St. Patrick's Day, by boosting staff and coordinating resources with police and paramedics.
"On a regular day, emergency rooms and hospitals are full and busy so any sort of emergency diversion strategies are impactful and should be used when able," de Jong said.
In a federal government survey on alcohol and drug use among post-secondary students between 2021 and 2022, nearly half of all students reported heavy drinking.
Among students who drank alcohol within the past 12 months, almost half said theyexperienced at least one alcohol-related harm in the past month.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 14, 2024.
The Canadian Press
Note to readers: This is a corrected story. An earlier version misspelled the name of University of Guelph spokesperson Jessamine Luck.
