Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, July 5, 1995 TAG: 9507050109
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A-12 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: LESLIE TAYLOR STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
For a combined 40 years, Hegira House and Multi-Lodge have provided short- and long-term residential substance abuse treatment for adults, many of them referred by court order.
But budget shortfalls at the Roanoke agency that oversees the programs - Blue Ridge Community Services - have necessitated change. Both programs are moving - Hegira from Second Street to Multi-Lodge's Patterson Avenue building and Multi-Lodge to an apartment complex on First Street.
The programs will become less "residential-oriented" and slightly smaller in size, said Fred Roessel, executive director of Blue Ridge Community Services.
"To some extent, there is a downsizing aspect to it to bring it in line with projected income," Roessel said.
Revenue projections for substance abuse treatment for the next few years are not encouraging, he said. The state-funded agency lost $200,000 for its 10 substance abuse programs from the 1994-95 fiscal year to 1995-96. That means restructuring programs to continue services with fewer dollars, he said.
And Roessel predicts that the downward spiral will continue.
"The [Virginia] Department of Mental Health, Mental Retardation and Substance Abuse [Services] in general has been showing less support for substance abuse community programming than was the case in recent years," he said. "I can't tell you what their motivations are. But based on behavior we observed, there is a less strong commitment to community programming."
The agency's budget for substance abuse programs for the 1994-95 year was $3.6 million. The 1995-96 budget is $3.4 million.
"We're dealing with a much more uncertain world in terms of funding," Roessel said. "Residential programs are not just expensive, but there are a lot of fixed costs - the building itself, licensing standards that require certain staffing patterns - that leave you without a lot of flexibility. It means one has to be more flexible in terms of program size."
The Hegira House property on Second Street Southwest - an old building with insufficient space - had to be vacated because it didn't meet licensing standards, said Gail Burruss, Blue Ridge's director of substance abuse services.
The agency was reluctant to spend a tremendous amount of money to purchase the property for Hegira House and do substantial repairs to it, she said.
Hegira House began as a treatment home where drug and alcohol abusers spent 12 to 18 months in intensive therapy. The center received most of its patients by court order from drug-related cases.
Multi-Lodge started as a residential counseling and treatment program for adults with substance abuse problems. It offered an intensive 18-week program - two weeks in detox, followed by 16 weeks in a group home on Patterson Avenue.
Roessel said he expects to be working closely with the Drug Court. Blue Ridge Community Services "played a major role in the initiation of this program," he said. "We expect to be engaging in contractual relations in that program."
Still, "there's an inclination in corrections to move toward internal programming within their own system," Roessel said.
Henry Altice, Hegira House director, said the Drug Court program will deal primarily with outpatient and intensive outpatient treatment, not long-term residential care. Some Drug Court cases eventually may make their way into the Hegira program, he said.
But residential treatment often won't be available to offenders, Burruss said.
"It's certainly conceivable that if they do not respond at the intensive outpatient level, [Hegira House and Multi-Lodge] could be an option the court would consider for them if space was available."
But people who aren't making it with the Drug Court program would require swift intervention that probably would preclude residential treatment, Burruss said.
"In other words, incarceration is a likely possibility rather than residential treatment at that point," she said. "But again, it depends on the demand."
And for Hegira House and Multi-Lodge, "the demand far exceeds capacity," Burruss said.
Hegira served approximately 75 adults in the 1994-95 fiscal year. Capacity at the Second Street building has been 24 at a time. At Multi-Lodge's Patterson Avenue building, it will be about 18.
Renovations have been planned to bring the number up to 24, Altice said. It is unlikely there will be room for more than that.
The program has a three- to four-month waiting list, Altice said.
Multi-Lodge served 80 to 100 clients in the 1994-95 year, Burruss said. Its waiting list is about the same as that at Hegira House.
by CNB