The treatment hub in St. Albans opened in a temporary location on Crest Road, where it will have capacity for up to 250 patients, according to an announcement from state officials.
A permanent facility on Main Street is under construction and expected to open this fall. Once fully operational, the clinic will be able to take on almost 700 patients.
Deputy Health Commissioner Barbara Cimaglio said in a statement Thursday that the clinic has been “a missing link” in Vermont’s opiate addiction treatment system. Until now, people seeking treatment for addiction in the northwest part of the state have faced lengthy daily treks to clinics in Newport or South Burlington.
The St. Albans center is Vermont’s sixth treatment hub, clinics that provide patients daily doses of medication-assisted therapy — typically buprenorphine and methadone. With regular doses, the drugs help addicts manage the symptoms of opioid withdrawal.
According to the Health Department, 3,271 people were receiving treatment through hubs as of April.
The new facility is run by BAART Programs, a company that also has contracts to operate treatment centers in Newport, St. Johnsbury and Berlin.
According to Jason Goguen, regional director of operations for BAART, the new clinic initially will take on patients who currently travel to Newport for treatment. Next month, patients who live in the St. Albans area who go to the hub in Chittenden County will also be able to transfer to the new location.
Then-Gov. Peter Shumlin announced the new clinic a year ago and projected it would open in January. But the project was delayed by difficulties finding a site, then going through the permit process.
The state approved a permit for the site that will be the permanent clinic, a former Knights of Columbus property, in April.
That month, Gov. Phil Scott made a call to the contractor hired to do the renovations to “convey this was a priority,” according to Scott’s staff.
He lauded the opening of the temporary facility in a statement Thursday.
“Access to treatment is a vital part of addressing our opiate crisis and it has been a significant need for this community, so I am very pleased to see this temporary location open today,” Scott said. “More work must be done to get the permanent location open, but I appreciate the efforts of my administration and our partners in getting this temporary location open to provide this important service.”
