An inpatient center that offers mental health services and addiction treatment in Macon, Georgia will be getting a new state-of-the-art facility.
With the assistance of grant funds, the nonprofit River Edge Foundation is planning to rebuild its River Edge Recovery Center. The center was originally built in the 1970s as a nursing home. In its current form, the facility operates as an acute inpatient treatment center that offers 24/7 stabilization. Trained staff are able to treat co-occurring mental health and substance use disorders. Services include an initial assessment, drug detoxification, psychiatric care and intervention services.
The center currently has two residential units, one for adults and one for children and adolescents between 5 and 14 years of age. Adults stay in treatment on average less than 10 days, while children and adolescents usually stay up to 14 days. Clinical professionals develop individualized discharge plans to assist patients in long-term addiction recovery.
River Edge Recovery Center specifically serves as a resource for people requiring help in times of crisis. Last year, the center treated more than 1,700 residents.
“Often times, families do not know where to take loved ones who need to detox and many end up in emergency rooms,” stated Macey Kilgore, Director of Advancement of the River Edge Foundation. “The Recovery Center is a safe-haven for those struggling with substance use disorders.”
According to Georgia’s Department of Public Health, there were more than 3,150 emergency department admissions for opioid-related overdoses in the state in 2017. Statewide drug overdoses deaths have been increasing steadily since 2010. Opioids were responsible for 1,043 of 1,619 drug overdoses deaths that occurred last year. The Macon-Bibb County area experienced 50 overdose emergency department visits and 15 opioid overdose deaths in the Macon-Bibb area.
The Department of Health and state agencies have been expanding prevention and addiction treatment resources. Last year, government officials passed legislation that enacted new regulations for the state’s Prescription Drug Monitoring Program.
In addition, the department’s commissioner recently issued a standing order to expand naloxone distribution.
To serve more residents in the Macon-Bibb area, the River Edge Foundation started a fundraising campaign to go toward the building of the new facility. The Peyton Anderson Foundation also awarded the organization a $500,000 grant to go toward the project.
“We are grateful for the generous support of the Peyton Anderson Foundation,” Kilgore said. “The River Edge Foundation can’t make this project happen without the support of the community. The Recovery Center is a vital resource for the Macon-Bibb community as well as central Georgia.”
The new facility will be erected on land adjacent to the current center. In addition to expanding the number of beds for addiction treatment and behavioral health patients, other renovations will go toward projecting a welcoming atmosphere.
“We hope that the new facility will eliminate the institutional feel of the current facility, enhance treatment with an outdoor space for adults and children, increase our ability to serve more people in need, offer warm and inviting patient treatment and age appropriate classroom space for children and adolescents, and be a safe-haven for those in crisis.”
The River Edge Foundation is currently raising additional funds for the new center. Kilgore explained that construction should begin next year and the center should open in 2021.
“The stigma attached to mental health is a challenge we face daily,” she concluded. “The Foundation will continue to share the River Edge story of hope to inspire giving to make life better. At River Edge, we believe ‘If it’s not you, it is someone you love.’”
Author: Sean Woodard
Sean Woodard is a journalist for Addiction Now and serves on the Film Department for Drunk Monkeys Literary Magazine and Film Blog. Focusing on a wide variety of interests, Sean’s fiction, film criticism, and other writing have been featured in Los Angeles Review of Books, Found Polaroids, and Los Angeles Magazine, among other publications. A native of Visalia, CA, he now resides in Orange County. Contact Sean at seanw@addictionnow.com
