Editor’s note: This article is by Keith Whitcomb Jr., of the Bennington Banner, in which it was first published Oct. 1, 2015.
BENNINGTON — Nearly a year after it was first announced, an opioid addiction treatment center will be opening in Bennington sometime this month. A few things have changed from the original plan, which was announced in October 2014 by Gov. Peter Shumlin along with other local leaders in health care and law enforcement.
On Wednesday, United Counseling Service Executive Director Ralph Provenza, Southwestern Vermont Health Care CEO Thomas Dee, and others from their organizations spoke to local media about the treatment program and how the original vision has changed and what parts of it remain the same.
For one, the center will be located at the United Counseling Service, which has its headquarters on Ledgehill Drive next to Southwestern Vermont Medical Center. Originally it was going to be housed at Vermont Mill Properties on Benmont Avenue where the Hawthorne Recovery Center, run by Dr. Nels Kloster, is located.
When it was first announced, it was said that it would increase the number the patients the Hawthorne Recovery Center could offer medication assisted treatment to by 100.
The program at UCS will only take 30 patients at one time, at least for the first year. It will not offer methadone, and medications prescribed will still have to be taken on-site in order to curb diversion.
It will only be open to Bennington County residents.
Provenza said the program took a year to put together because it’s unique, being neither a “hub” nor a “spoke,” rather something in between.
Paul DiIonno, UCS manager of substance abuse services, said the state uses a “hub and spoke” model for medically assisted addiction treatment. A hub is a methadone clinic, of which there are six in the state.
Peg Gregory, director of mental health and substance abuse services at UCS, said the hubs offer more intensive, structured treatment for patients with severe addiction and other co-occurring issues. A spoke is typically a medical practitioner’s office which can not provide methadone, however they can offer buprenorphine, commonly called Suboxone. The spokes take referrals from the hubs and are limited to how many patients they can prescribe Suboxone.
A newly trained doctor can prescribe buprenorphine for up to 30 patients in their first year, working up to 100 after that.
There are no hubs in Bennington County and with a limited number of spokes many addicts find themselves having to travel to Rutland or Brattleboro for their Suboxone and other treatment needs.
Dr. John McLellan, who developed a program at SVHC for pregnant mothers with addiction, will be the medical service provider to the new treatment program. Paul DiIonno, UCS manager of substance abuse services, will oversee the mental health counseling services that come with the medical assistance.
Provenza said the starting goals for the program changed after the details began being discussed with the state.
Despite seeing fewer people at first, the number of people getting treatment has not been adversely affected.
“Another change from a year ago is that Dr. Kloster has built his practice up quite a bit, and he has been able to help meet that demand that we were originally thinking we were going to have to meet,” said Dee.
Dee said the program can now take some time to develop itself and assess its own future needs. Provenza said the program is being funded by the Vermont Blueprint for Health and Medicaid payments. A first-year budget is being finalized and two more staff members have to be secured before the center will open. That will be in October, but what date he can not specify.
When the program was announced last year, it was expected to open in the spring.
That was pushed back to mid to late summer. Provenza and Dee said it took longer than expected to work out some of the details given that the program is neither a hub nor a spoke.
