Drug treatment for women: Construction of facility in McDowell expected in spring
Bluefield Daily Telegraph, Bluefield, WV
April 5, 2012
Drug treatment for women: Construction of facility in McDowell expected in spring
By CHARLES OWENS
Bluefield Daily Telegraph
WELCH — — Construction is expected to begin later this spring on a 12-bed drug treatment facility for women in McDowell County.
The facility planned near Welch is one of two drug treatment centers currently proposed for the county. Lawmakers recently secured a $1.3 million special legislative appropriation to help develop the treatment center, according to Delegate Clif Moore, D-McDowell, who was assisted in securing the appropriation by Delegate Harry Keith White, D-Mingo, Delegate Linda Goode Phillips, D-Wyoming and Delegate Daniel Hall, D-Raleigh.
“There is a local developer that has entered into a contract with the Department of Health and Human Services to construct a co-occurring unit,” Moore said. “It will be in Welch. Right now they are finishing the surveying of the site. We are going to submit the plans to the appropriate state officials. We should begin construction in late spring or early summer. It’s a done deal. Signed, sealed and delivered.”
The facility will provide not only drug treatment services, but also education counseling, job counseling and other services necessary to help those individuals who are recovering from a drug addiction.
The McDowell County Commission also is working to develop a second drug-treatment facility in the Welch area — a proposed Suboxone clinic — that would serve both men and women. The center as currently proposed would be able to treat 30 people at a time.
County Commission President Gordon Lambert confirmed last month that the commission was working with Southern Highlands, and local doctors, to develop the proposed Suboxone clinic.
“Delegate White, Delegate Hall and myself met with the Department of Health and Human Resources,” Moore said. “And probably by June we will have a Suboxone clinic in the county. Southern Highlands Mental Health Clinic will be the operators of that program. They have already hired a certified, properly trained, well-experienced counselor. We are going to work with doctors to get this thing up and running.”
The county’s rampant drug problem has been garnering national and international attention, including a recent Australian television news report and now a two-page article in the April edition of Playboy magazine.
Lawmakers also introduced a bill during the past legislation session that addresses the need to provide services to children of incarcerated parents. The legislation was amended by Moore and Phillips to include McDowell County.
Moore said many of those parents who are incarcerated are in jail for drug-related offenses. The legislation would allow local non-profit agencies to work with the children.
Moore said such a program was recently launched by the Council of Southern Mountains, and could now be expanded to additional counties as a result of the recently passed legislation.
