Plan for county drug treatment center alters
New design would serve more Carroll residents at same time, provide varied levels of care and save money
Thursday, May 25, 2006
Health care providers are looking for ways a proposed drug treatment center in Sykesville could treat more Carroll County residents and save money.
Jolene Sullivan, the county’s department of citizen services director, and Peter Luongo, the Maryland Alcohol and Drug Abuse Administration director, outlined ‘‘a new way of thinking” about rehabilitative treatment in a presentation last week to county commissioners.
‘‘We’re looking at the way we treat folks,” Sullivan said. ‘‘People who would come in for 18 to 24 months may only need six to nine months.”
The new care design would allow more people to get the medical attention they need and overcome substance abuse addictions, Sullivan said.
‘‘The exact same footprint will serve 48 people at one time,” Sullivan said. ‘‘The money will not change, it will remain the same, but the way we do business is changing.”
So far, the state has granted $1.1 million toward the county’s $2.9 million for construction of the 15,132-square-foot facility, which would have 24 beds. The project is expected to be built on a parcel along Buttercup Road on the southern portion of Springfield State Hospital Center. Plans include an addition that would double the number of beds.
Luongo said the key to a successful program is ‘‘efficiency and effectiveness.”
‘‘Maryland is developing a good reputation for being proactive and doing this,” he said, adding that since March 2, he and Sullivan have been examining the most successful way to run the program. ‘‘We’re trying to make the right fit based on evidence. What we know clinically now, we know on the business end.”
County officials are considering allowing a private vendor to run the treatment center, which could cut the budget in half.
Luongo, who said he has worked in the mental health field for 20 years, explained that when people come in for drug treatment, they need to be assessed for their individual needs.
‘‘It’s not like an ear infection,” Luongo said. ‘‘We need to manage care at varying levels of intensity and use information-based decision making.”
Carroll County’s current drug treatment center, Shoemaker, offers one level of care, he said, which Luongo called ‘‘highly medically oriented.” He added that not everyone who needs help needs that level of care.
Sullivan agreed. ‘‘This is taking the dollars you have pledged to this and doing what you wanted to do more effectively.”
According to Luongo, the new model of care could save the county $600,000. The new building would treat patients with multiple levels of care, allow varied lengths of stay, maximize physical space and maximize the number of people treated, he said.
‘‘It’s something we’re extremely interested in,” Luongo said. ‘‘It offers Maryland the opportunity to become more ahead and put Carroll County in a tremendous position to treat effectively and efficiently.”
Architects have already designed the new building, and the county will lease the land from the state for $1 per year for the next 30 years.
Sullivan said the center would be one of a few in the state, and that other counties have expressed interest in purchasing beds for their residents. The plan is to offer the program to Carroll County residents first and then lease beds to other counties if they are not filled. Carroll County would profit from the leases.
County officials said they are excited to get the plan moving, and credited Del. Susan W. Krebs (R-Dist. 9B) of Eldersburg with getting the plan the attention it needed.
‘‘We’ll be able to work with more Carroll County folks, sustain them and get them back into the community,” Sullivan said.
A groundbreaking is scheduled for June 21.