LOOKOUT — WestCare Kentucky is a step closer to its
goal of opening a residential substance abuse treatment
facility for women in Pike County.
The organization, which currently operates a residential
substance abuse treatment
facility for men and a homeless
shelter in Pike County,
paid off a $92,000 debt for
the former Lookout
Elementary School. The
money, approved by the fiscal
court, filtered through
single-county coal severance
tax funds.
WestCare placed a bid on
the school in 2006, and
since that time the organization
has paid a down payment
and made a partial
payment for the property,
which cost $ 217,000.
Jenifer Noland,
WestCare's regional vice
president, said the organization
has been and will continue
to apply for grants to
remodel and complete the
facility—a task that she said
will cost approximately
$800,000 and take, once
funding is in place, about a
year to complete. The building,
which was vandalized
in March, will have to be
gutted and refurbished, she
said.
|
CHECK PRESENTATION:
William J. Baird III, the
co-chairperson of
WestCare Kentucky’s
board of directors,
presented a $92,000
to Pike County School
District superintendent
Roger Wagner. |
WestCare will "aggressively
seek funding," she
said, to turn the former
school into a 90-day, 45-bed
residential treatment facility
for women. She believes
WestCare hasn't received
grants for the project yet
because the organization
didn't have a clear title to
the building.
WestCare operates facilities
for women in other
states, but the Lookout location
will be the first such
center in eastern Kentucky.
Women who are treated
there can bring their children.
Women who have their
children with them during
treatment tend to stay in
treatment longer, Noland
said. The program, modeled
after the program provided
to men at WestCare's
Ashcamp facility, will additionally
provide women
daycare services and parenting
classes.
Noland said the women in
treatment will be "reintroduced"
to their children and
families.
"We're certainly excited
to take the next step in treating
women," said Erdil
Looney, who oversees
WestCare's eastern division,
which will include the new
facility at Lookout.
He said approximately 60
percent of the men treated at
WestCare's facility for men
in Ashcamp are still drugfree
six months after treatment
ends, according to
self-reported data provided
by the clients after they
leave. Since the facility
opened in 2005, 422 men
have graduated.
"If we've helped one person
in one family, think
about the generations of
people that we've really
helped," he said.
At a ceremonial check
presentation last week, officials
talked about the fight
against addiction. Some
officials talked about breaking
free from their own
addictions. Others talked
about how addiction has
damaged their family or the
lives of friends.
"I don't stand here proud
of the fact that I have been
an addict," said Pike County
District Judge Kelsey E.
Friend. "I stand here proud
of the fact that we can
recover."
He explained that addicts
"feel like we're standing
with an ‘A' on our collar,"
and that people look at them
differently because of the
addiction. He talked about a
former drug program participant
who asked him to
expunge dismissed cases
from his criminal history
record. The man was seeking
a job at a local coal company,
he said.
"We in leadership have a
responsibility to do what we
can to save the next generations
of Pike County," said
Judge-Executive Wayne T.
Rutherford.
Pike County Jailor
Rodney Scott joined other
officials in praising area
organizations that work
together to combat the drug
problem.
"This is a good day for
the Board of Education. It's
a good day for WestCare.
But it's a great day for Pike
County," he said.
The jail program started
out with 20 beds, but it has
since expanded to 36 beds.
Scott said of 47 people who
recently graduated from the
program, seven are still
incarcerated and only five of
them have returned to jail.
UNITE Pike is currently
working to start a female
treatment program at the
jail. That program will be
one of three available
statewide, he said. |
