Healing Place opioid treatment facility garners support, opposition

WILMINGTON -- Location, location, location.

That was the chief concern from residents and professionals at a community meeting Tuesday regarding New Hanover County’s proposed addiction treatment center facility on Medical Center Drive.

The Healing Place of New Hanover County would be a 100-bed treatment facility with residential, administrative and dining components -- with enough room to potentially grow in the future to include up to 200 beds. Treatment options offered would include an overnight wet shelter, a social detox area and a long-term peer-monitored recovery facility.

The facility would initially only be available to men, with space for women and adolescents to be considered in the future.

Last week, the county continued its request to the Wilmington City Council for a special-use permit -- a requirement with the residential component -- until the board’s January 8 to accommodate Tuesday’s meeting.

Held at Trillium Health Resources, which is the county’s partner on the project, the meeting was intended to offer information on the logistics and need for the facility, dispel any misconceptions and answer any lingering questions from the people who own practices and businesses along the corridor.

For the meeting, County Manager Chris Coudriet was joined by Trillium CEO Leza Wainwright and, via video conference, Jay Davidson, the founder of Kentucky-based The Healing Place.

All these parties led off by making the case for the facility because of the county’s high rates of opioid abuse, a crisis Commissioner Rob Zapple was resolute is saying much be addressed.

“My only hesitation here is that it will only be 100 beds … and the day that this drug treatment facility opens, those 100 beds will be filled up like that because that’s the need,” he said. “This is a baby step in our community to address a serious issue.”

More communication needed

Nearly everyone who raised questions or concerns Tuesday took time to offer their support for the facility, but many took issue with its location, which is on Trillium-owned land surrounded by other medical offices and practices, many of which house medication on site for their patients.

Gwen Whitley, CEO of Lower Cape Fear Hospice, specifically noted that her organization is not opposed to the treatment facility, which would be the immediate neighbor to its hospice care center. But she did express disappointment in a lack of communication from the county and Trillium, saying her organization was not made aware of the proposed project until August.

“I don’t anyone to walk away from here tonight thinking we do not support this facility,” Whitley said. “We support it 100 percent. We do not support where it is located, within the business area and especially within our area and the peaceful atmosphere for our patients. That is our only concern, it is not the facility. We know we need it.”

Throughout the meeting, several speakers shared similar complaints they were not informed of the project until recently, to which Coudriet noted discussions held during the commissioners’ public meetings as early as 2015.

“It’s been on the public agenda any number of times,” he said. ”It’s been well reported.”

But others still sought answers to specific questions about security and staffing; the ways in which patients in need of treatment would arrive at the facility, including those brought by EMS or law enforcement; and where they go if they choose not to participate in treatment.

'Lack of empathy'

Also in the crowd were advocates for those substance abusers, many of whom were former addicts themselves who found treatment. Joining Davidson over video were two men who went through The Healing Place program at one of its 14 Kentucky locations.

More than a half-dozen advocates made the case that misconceptions about addicts are what lead communities and residents to fear the worst about the outward effects of facilities like The Healing Place.

Cherry Grooves, founder of the local Broken Horse opioid recovery organization, has placed patients seeking treatment in Raleigh’s The Healing Place location, known as Healing Transitions. She said fears that surrounding businesses are in jeopardy because of the proposed facility are unwarranted.

“If you think people will break into your facilities and take your medications and cause a ruckus, I hate to tell you that you are sadly wrong,” she said. “These are not some derelicts. They are wonderful, talented and highly intelligent people ... But it comes with a stigma, which comes from a lack of education, which comes from lack of empathy.”

Under the current plans, the project would be built in two phases and comprise seven buildings when completed. Phase 1 would see the construction of a 9,754-square-foot residential center, a 4,136-square-foot detox building, a 13,300-square-foot dining building and a 15,781-square-foot administration building. Phase 2 would included an expansion to the dining building, another residential building and a storage building.

Coudriet invited those in attendance Tuesday to come to the Wilmington City Council meeting at 6:30 p.m. on Jan. 8, where the county will make its presentation for the special-use permit, followed by a public hearing.

Reporter Hunter Ingram can be reached at 910-343-2327 or Hunter.Ingram@StarNewsOnline.com.