On its first day of business, as the state’s licensing agent finalized paperwork, and builders aligned doors to frames, a handful of patients were admitted.
The 64-bed facility is not a cold-turkey detox, like the prior generation’s. Public health data show that was rarely effective with opioid addiction.
When patients are first admitted to the new Franklin Recovery Center, for opioid or alcohol abuse, the majority will spend a week on the first floor, taking a regiment of medications, like Suboxone, to help them withdraw.
Behavioral Health Network’s Candy Darcy says, after that, “people get really intensive clinical treatment [on the 2nd floor] and typically people can stay in that level of care for about 14 days,” though the length of stay will depend on their health insurance.
Darcy says the treatment will at least get people started on medication and counseling, something they’ll hopefully continue after they leave, at an outpatient clinic or through their own doctor. Until now, Franklin County had no such facility, in the midst of an opioid abuse crisis, and residents had to go elsewhere in the state.
This is the third such facility for the Springfield-based Behavioral Health Network. Dr. Ruth Potee, well-known as a leader in the effort to change the treatment of heroin addiction, is the Greenfield center’s medical director.