Officials in Lincoln County agree the area needs a detox facility for drug and alcohol recovery but just where it would be located, how it would be operated and when it would come to fruition remains unknown.
Lincoln County’s Local Public Safety Coordinating Council sent a letter to the Pacific Communities Health District Board in July urging the inclusion of a 10 to 15 bed capacity Alcohol and Drug Detoxification unit in the new $57 million medical building recently approved by voters.
“We really feel that it’s appropriate for detox, which is the first step in helping people to address and successfully recover from addiction, to be part of this new facility,” said Cheryl Connell, director of Lincoln County Health and Human Services.
Lincoln County Commissioner Bill Hall, who is also a member of the LPSCC and who served on the Governor’s Council on Alcohol and Drug Programs from 2005 to 2009, said the new medical center is an opportunity to get a much needed detox facility.
“I see this really as a once in a generation opportunity to do something really proactive,” he said. “It’s not very often we get a new medical complex.”
But whether a detox center would be a part of the new medical center is still up in the air.
“Everything is open to discussion,” said Ralph Breitenstein, who chairs the Pacific Communities Health District Board. ”We don’ know where it would go.”
The district is planning to hold public meetings and bring stakeholders together to discuss options.
“There’s a lot of issues that have to be sorted out yet, and were just starting down this road,” Beritenstein said.
Agreed on the need
Since the Ken Trueman Addiction Recovery Center, a non-profit detox facility that operated for over 30 years in Lincoln County, closed in 2012 for financial reasons, Hall said the number of people struggling to deal with addiction has increased with more people ending up in the emergency room or behind bars.
“It is an absolute critical need in this community,” he said.
Lincoln County’s average amphetamine and alcohol substance use disorders for people on the Oregon Health Plan were 18 percent greater than Oregon’s average in 2013-14.
Reconnections, one of four treatment providers in the county, averages 30 intakes per month, according to the letter by Lincoln County District Attorney and LPSCC Chairwoman Michelle Branam.
“The strain put on our law enforcement in dealing with these individuals because there are no acute care resources available, takes them away from focusing on other pressing law enforcement priorities,” she wrote. “Alcoholism and drug addiction contribute to many social problems in our county and these struggling individuals deserve available resources, including an appropriately staffed detox facility and a full range of treatment options.”
Larry Mullins, president and CEO of Samaritan Health Services, supports the push to get a detox center in the county, whether that be in the new medical center or elsewhere.
“I think we all recognize that there’s a critical need to be addressed, and we’re looking for the best options to do that,” he said.
Breitenstein said the board recognizes the need but that the question remains of where to locate the center and how to pay for it.
“I think this has not fallen on deaf ears,” he said. “Now we just have to figure out how it would happen.”
Shelby can be reached at [email protected].
