PLATTSBURGH — Work on a feasibility study for the new drug and alcohol detox facility coming to Schuyler Falls could begin as soon as this week.
The process, which will take about a month, will examine what renovations the property at 516 Norrisville Road, former site of Adirondack Residential Center, will need before the facility opens, said Champlain Valley Family Center for Drug Treatment and Youth Services Inc. Executive Director Connie Wille.
“They’re going to be looking at the entire structure and systems — heating systems, water systems, all of that — to come up with, No. 1, a timeline and, No. 2, cost.”
STABILIZATION
Wille’s agency will run the facility.
“It’s going to be called a stabilization unit, and primarily it’s just going to be detox services,” she told the Press-Republican.
A small clinic will serve people from the community going through withdrawal on a very outpatient basis, she said, and about eight beds will accommodate those who need to reside at the unit during that process.
Wille has said that a satellite clinic will provide onsite evaluation and refer patients to local providers.
There are no facilities like the new unit closer than Albany or Potsdam.
Life circumstances, such as level of family support and transportation, factor into the type of care people need.
“There are some ways that it would be a good service for people to be able to come in daily for five to seven days, get attached to the clinic and then get referred to whichever kind of program they need to be referred to, so that we’ll really have more of a system of care,” Wille said.
The current system is very fragmented, she added, referring to the differing levels of treatment available across Clinton, Essex and Franklin counties.
“So this will help to develop the system of services.”
RENOVATIONS NEEDED
During a meeting March 8, the New York State Dormitory Authority and stakeholders in the facility looked at the Norrisville Road site’s existing buildings to see which would be serviceable for the program, Champlain Valley Family Services Board President Ginny Brady said.
“I would say, because the property has been closed for approximately eight years, that there’s going to be a lot of renovation that will need to occur,” Wille said.
“And it’s going to be used for a different service than was up there previously, so it’ll have to be designed for detox rather than kind of a dorm and counseling offices.”
Wille said other locations weren’t really considered when work on the project began back in 2014. The former Adirondack Residential Center, located across from the Norrisville Road entrance to Macomb Park, was ideal since it sits on currently unused state land.
SAFE WITHDRAWAL
Some have raised the question of possible crime increasing in that area, since opiate addiction and criminal activity are often linked.
“It certainly will be a well-supervised program, and the followup will certainly be very well-planned out and structured,” Brady said.
“I think that it would be a facility that would not pose any kind of threat to any of the people who live (near) there.”
Wille added that the population at the facility would be short term.
“Our goal will be to safely withdraw these folks from substances and then engage them in treatment in their community.”
OASAS FUNDING
Though the grant Wille initially wrote for the project was for Delivery System Reform Incentive Payment Program funding, the New York State Office of Alcoholism and Substance Abuse Services (OASAS), which licenses the Family Center, has taken on capital funding.
According to the State Department of Health’s website, the purpose of Delivery System Reform is to “fundamentally restructure the health-care delivery system by reinvesting in the Medicaid program, with the primary goal of reducing avoidable hospital use by 25 percent over five years.”
How much funding will still be needed, Wille said, will be determined once the feasibility study is complete.
She believes her agency will have a lot of input into the design, but OASAS and the State Dormitory Authority will take responsibility for putting the project out to bid and following up with the renovation plan.
“And then we’ll have responsibility for just setting it up organizationally,” Brady said.
RECOVERY COACHES
Realistically, the detox facility could open in nine to 12 months, Wille said.
She estimated it would create 24 to 26 jobs, employing medical professionals, maintenance and food workers and recovery coaches, which will include people who have gone through the recovery process.
One of two recovery coaches Wille hired a few years ago is now a “train-the-trainer,” who recently offered a 35-hour training.
“So we will be doing some recruitment from those pools as the agency grows to hire more recovery coaches.
“It’s invaluable — they are well able to share their experience, strength and hope with folks who are really kind of at their worst in their disease, and that population needs to hear that.”
‘WILL SAVE LIVES’
“As a board, we’re really excited about Champlain Valley Family Center being at the forefront of this effort in Clinton County,” Brady said, adding that it will be a North Country resource, serving people from Essex and Franklin counties as well.
The Family Center has received tremendous support from OASAS, Wille said, and a lot of credit has to go to Sen. Betty Little and Assemblywoman Janet Duprey.
“They were so supportive of this project right from preliminarily discussing it to actually following through and helping it to happen.”
The local population is very vulnerable and high risk, Wille said, and people often forget that addiction is a disease.
“And it impacts families the same way that a cancer diagnosis impacts a family. So now, to be able to get the service close to home, I mean, I really can’t even begin to tell you how thrilled I am about this.”
“To be able to have that as an option for people now,” Brady said, “I think it’s going to save countless lives.”
Email Cara Chapman:
Twitter: @PPR_carachapman
FIND HELP
CLINTON COUNTY
Champlain Valley Family Center
Prevention contact: Constance Wille.
Email: cwille@cvfamilycenter.org
Outpatient treatment contact: Paul Lamora.
Email: plamora@cvfamilycenter.org
Phone: 561-8480.
Address: 20 Ampersand Drive in Plattsburgh.
Conifer Park Inc.
Methadone treatment, outpatient services.
Contact: Michelle L. Collings.
Phone: 561-0130.
Email: Mcollings@libertymgt.com
Address: 80 Sharron Ave., Plattsburgh.
Clinton County Community Services Board, Clinton County Addiction Service
Services: Outpatient services.
Contact: Stacey Beebie.
Phone: 565-4060.
Email: beebies@co.clinton.ny.us
Address: 16-18 Ampersand Drive, Plattsburgh; also 481 State Route 11, Champlain.
ESSEX COUNTY
The Substance Abuse Prevention Team of Essex County
Prevention services.
Contact: Douglas Terbeek.
Phone: 585-7424, Ext. 101.
Email: doug@preventionteam.org
Address: 173 Lord Howe St., Ticonderoga.
St. Joseph’s Addiction Treatment and Recovery Centers
Outpatient services
Contact: Beryl “Sue” Gregory, CASAC.
Phone: 585-7934.
Email: sgregory@stjoestreatment.org
Locations: 50 Montcalm St., Ticonderoga; 1703 Front St., Keeseville; 7520 Court St., Elizabethtown.
FRANKLIN COUNTY
Citizen Advocates Inc., North Star Chemical Dependency Services
Prevention, outpatient services
Contact: Beth A. Lawyer.
Phone: 483-8980, Ext. 2313.
Email: bethlawyer@citizenadvocates.net
Address: 209 Park St., Malone.
Additional outpatient services locations: 70 Edgewood Road, Saranac Lake; 114 Wawbeek Ave., Tupper Lake; 143 White Birch Road, Indian Lake; State Route 30 at Elm Lake Road, Speculator.
St. Regis Mohawk Tribe/Health Services
Prevention, outpatient services contact: Connie Thompson.
Phone: 358-3141, Ext. 160.
Email: conniet@regis.nashville.ihs.gov
Inpatient treatment contact: Gidget Rousell.
Email: gidget@regis.nashville.ihs.gov
Prevention, inpatient treatment: 25 Saint Regis Road, Hogansburg.
Outpatient clinic: 412 State Route 37, Akwesasne.
St. Joseph’s Addiction Treatment and Recovery Centers
Outpatient services, inpatient treatment
Malone outpatient contact: Linda Boss
Phone: 483-6566
Email: lboss@stjoestreatment.org
Address: 458 East Main St. in Malone
Saranac Lake outpatient contact: Ms. Amy Favro
Phone: 891-5353
Email: afavro@stjoestreatment.org
Address: 91 Woodruff St., Saranac Lake; 386 River Road, Lake Placid.
Inpatient contact: Ms. Heather E. Rich, LMSW
Admission phone: 891-4135
Phone: 891-3801, Ext. 1210.
Email: hrich@stjoestreatment.org
Address: 159 Glenwood Drive, Saranac Lake.
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