State to open Sussex drug treatment center

State officials say a new addiction rehabilitation center will open in Sussex County to improve medical services for underserved residents of southern Delaware.

“Lewes may be their optimum location,” said Jill Fredel, communications director for the Department of Health and Social Services, noting it is early in the process and she does not know where the facility will be located.  Fredel said plans are for a 16-bed detox center to open in March 2015. State officials announced Oct. 28 that $950,000 has been set aside to pay for the new facility.

Planning officials in Sussex County and the City of Lewes say they have received no application for a rehab facility; Lewes Mayor Ted Becker said the City of Lewes has not been included in any discussions about a treatment center.

"I'm not aware of anything going on in the city limits," he said.

Marc Richman, assistant director for Community Mental Health and Addiction Services, said no contract has yet been signed, but the state is expected to contract management of the facility to Connections, a Delaware nonprofit that will provide counselors and medical staff for the treatment center.

Richman said patients seeking treatment are overwhelmingly addicted to opiates and, in particular, heroin.

“It's been a crazy need for people in Kent and Sussex counties,” he said. Delaware has an overnight facility in New Castle County, NET Kirkwood Detoxification Center. There are two facilities in Ellendale, but only one offers overnight admissions; it has 10 beds for women with addiction and their children, Richman said.

Connections has suggested several properties from Milford to Lewes as potential sites for the center, but, Richman said, he does not know whether property owners have been contacted by state officials.

Richman said he did not know why Lewes has been named a top location over western Sussex areas that have experienced nearly five times more heroin incidents than the Cape Region, according to police statistics.

“It's a matter of finding an appropriate building and getting the zoning,” he said. Officials would prefer to buy an existing building and renovate in order to keep costs down, he said.

Although state officials announced the Sussex plan in Wilmington, Fredel said the upstate facility would benefit from the new center by freeing beds in New Castle.

In addition to offering overnight care, Fredel said the new facility would provide 12 beds, known as 23-hour beds, for patients who come in for care. There also would be 30 to 100 slots for detox patients who cannot stay for a prolonged period, she said.

“Some people can't afford to be away from their job,” Fredel said.

Also announced Oct. 28 was a website www.HelpIsHereDE.com and a public awareness campaign focused on reducing the stigma associated with addiction.

Editor's note: This story has been edited to clarify that Lewes officials have not been contacted about locating a facility within city limits.