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Drug Treatment A Slow Build

Slowly but surely, a network of drug addiction treatment resources is being built here in Chautauqua County.

The latest addition came last week with the announcement that WCA Hospital has received $700,000 to build a 20-bed, long-term residential treatment program at the Jones Memorial Health Center on Glasgow Avenue.

The new program will establish three elements of care established by the OASAS Residential Redesign for patients 18 years of age or older: stabilization, residential rehabilitation and community re-integration. Stabilization can last one to several weeks and include medical treatment, ancillary withdrawal services and intensive counseling. Residential rehabilitation offers medication-assisted therapies, behavioral therapies and an environment for a person receive treatment for several more months. The final re-integration phase allows patients to leave the medical center and live out their daily lives, while returning to the center for supervised housing and ancillary withdrawal services.

“(This program) is for those with long-term chronic substance misuse rather than someone who just developed (an addiction) a few months ago,” Andy O’Brien, WCA Hospital director of inpatient chemical dependency and outpatient chemical dependency and mental health services told The Post-Journal. “(For example) … if you haven’t had a job for the last several years because of your addiction or you can’t really go more than a couple of days without using and your family’s disowned you and you’re living by a bar or next to a meth lab … you need to get away from that and you need structure.”

There is much to like about the new program — not the least of which is that it builds on existing partnerships. WCA Hospital will house the program, but it will partner with peer organizations like the Mental Health Association, industry and vocational outlets to help those working through the program to have jobs that will help provide a stable life once their treatment ends.

No one should think the county is done building this infrastructure, but the state’s investment is a worthy and needed endeavor in Chautauqua County.

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