For nearly five days this week, the phones weren’t working at Central Vermont Substance Abuse Services in Berlin.
That’s a major problem for the outpatient drug and alcohol treatment facility, according to Deborah Hopkins, operations director for the program.
“If someone has decided to ask for help, that’s an ambivalent time,” she said, “If they don’t get a speedy response, often times they’ll get discouraged and put off getting treatment.”
CVSAS’ telephone service provider is FairPoint, which state regulators at the Public Service Board agreed to investigate this week for persistent service quality issues.
FairPoint responded quickly to the outage at the facility, but its technicians were unable to resolve the issue for several days, Hopkins said. It wasn’t until she reached a manager Thursday evening that the company was able to make any progress reconnecting their phones, she said.
Twelve hours later, the lines were up again and people could reach the treatment center.
But during the outage people seeking treatment from the greater Washington County area were unable to call ahead, change appointments or let workers know if they were running late.
That’s a big deal when some clients are forced to walk to CVSAS, which is located far from a main road at the dirt end of Hospitality Drive. For various reasons, including suspended licenses, those clients don’t have access to transportation.
Hopkins said she thinks the PSB made the right choice by agreeing to investigate FairPoint especially in light of the outage that affected Vermont’s Enhanced 911 system. There were 83 emergency calls during a nearly six-hour outage last week, according to updated figures from the Enhanced 911 Board.
The PSB will hold a pre-hearing conference Dec. 9 in Montpelier. The investigation could result in fines and mandated changes to FairPoint’s business practices.
Service quality complaints increased dramatically following a strike by two unions that began Oct. 17, according to DPS Commissioner Chris Recchia. His department was receiving roughly 70 complaints per month over the summer, he said, and received 388 in the last two and a half months.
More than 1,700 members of the Communications Workers of America and International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers are on strike against FairPoint in Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine.
FairPoint sent a letter to striking workers this week urging them to return to their jobs, according to Associated Press reports, but the two sides remain at an impasse.
