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Leading Addiction Treatment Site Hopes To Triple In Size
Terry DeMio, 8:30 a.m. EDT April 29, 2016
Click For cincinatti.com Article


Center for Addiction Treatment to triple patient intake with expansion



Rendering of Cincinnati Center for Addiction Treatment new building, for which a Lead the Change Campaign kicked off Friday.
(Photo: Provided)




The call has gone out nationally and locally for addiction treatment to save lives and help curb an entrenched heroin and opioid epidemic, and in Cincinnati, a treatment leader is answering.

The Cincinnati Center for Addiction Treatment will expand its services to more than triple its current patient intake.

On Friday morning, the center expected to announce the kick-off of a $5.7 million fundraising campaign for its dual-focus project:

* Construction of a new, 17,000-square-foot building that will house outpatient services and a new clinic.
* A retrofitting of the existing building at 830 Ezzard Charles Drive in the West End to expand detox and residential services.

“Greater Cincinnati is at the forefront of a well-documented, and unprecedented drug epidemic. Lives are on the line. It is essential that we put recovery within reach for those needing help," CAT President and CEO Sandi Kuehn said in a statement released Friday morning.

"The single biggest barrier to accessing treatment is a lack of capacity. This plan helps with that," Kuehn said. "No one wanting help should have to be put on a waiting list.“

Greater Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky residents addicted to prescription painkillers or heroin are only a fraction of those nationwide waiting for treatment. Research by the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health shows that 80 percent of those with opioid addiction and dependence are not getting treated.

The Cincinnati center has been treating people with addiction since 1970 and currently serves more than 1,700 patients a year. With the expansion and new building, more than 6,000 patients will be served through programs and the new primary healthcare clinic, the agency announced.

The Center for Addiction Treatment provides treatment for substance use disorders and gambling addiction. For heroin and opioid addiction, the center uses evidence-based treatment – which includes buprenorphine (commonly known by the brand Suboxone) and injectable naltrexone (Vivitrol) – coupled with counseling and behavioral therapy.

The national Substance Abuse and Mental Health Association supports the approach for opioid and heroin use disorders advocates the combination, noting, "The prescribed medication operates to normalize brain chemistry, block the euphoric effects of alcohol and opioids, relieve physiological cravings, and normalize body functions without the negative effects of the abused drug."

The auxiliary program for primary health care services will allow for comprehensive, on-site treatment for people with addiction, the center stated in its news release.

The expansion of services will create roughly 40 jobs, mostly health-care related, according to spokeswoman Juli Hale.

So far, $1.3 million has been committed to the Lead the Change campaign, with another $2 million designated in the Ohio capital budget for the project.

Gifts to the campaign include:

* The Spaulding Foundation - $500,000
* Deaconess Health Associations Foundation - $300,000
* Bethesda - $150,000
* City of Cincinnati - $125,000

Construction is planned to begin in May, with anticipated completion about a year later.




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