Vancouver family that lost member to overdose donates $20M to recovery program

A Vancouver family known for its philanthropy is making a $20 million donation to a substance use treatment program in memory of a family member who died of an opioid overdose.

Jill Diamond, executive director of Vancouver's Diamond Foundation, says her brother Steven Diamond could still be alive today if he had received the care being offered at Vancouver's St. Paul's Hospital.

"We're speaking out today for the first time because we want to save lives," said Jill Diamond in a statement. "No matter where we turned, we never found the help that Steven needed."

Steven Diamond was 53 when he died of a fentanyl overdose in 2016. He died one week before a scheduled appointment to see an addiction psychiatrist after spending almost three months on a wait list.

The $20 million donation to the St. Paul's Foundation will help fund the hospital's Road to Recovery program, which aims to fill treatment gaps by cutting weeks off wait lists and providing supports to patients through a full spectrum of treatment services in one location.

"Road to Recovery began as a vision for a full continuum of substance use care within a single setting at St. Paul's Hospital, so that people can access the evidence-based addiction care they need, when they need it," said Dr. Seonaid Nolan with the B.C. Centre on Substance Use.

The program is funded by a $586 million investment in treatment and recovery services included in the 2023 budget and the province has committed $60.9 million toward the program's operating costs, said a statement by the St. Paul's Foundation.

The first beds, focused on stabilization, are expected to become available this fall, it said.

Jill Diamond said her brother was known as a giving addictions counsellor and massage therapist who, despite long periods of sobriety, faced a prolonged struggle with substance use that saw him in and out of treatment.

"This tragedy clearly shows our health-care system was not and is not up to the task," says Jill Diamond.

"Steven was a well sought-after addictions counsellor with expertise in the field and family means to pay for recovery. The fact that even he couldn't get well, despite giving his entire life's effort, shows addiction is a disease that must be looked at medically with new models of care."