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Baltimore to open ‘ER for addiction’ with state funding
Tim Curtis//Daily Record Business Reporter//March 27, 2018
Baltimore to open ‘ER for addiction’ with state funding
Baltimore will announce plans Wednesday to open a stabilization center, providing help for people struggling with addiction and other mental health disorders.
The stabilization center will revitilize space at the Hebrew Orphan Asylum in the city’s Coppin Heights neighborhood. While that project is underway, a pilot center will open at nearby Tuerk House.
Baltimore City Health Commissioner Leana Wen called the center “an ER for addiction and mental health.”
“Patients in need of addiction and mental health services should be able to access treatment at the time that they need it, which is what we would provide for people requesting help for any other disease,” she said in a statement. “The Stabilization Center is one step in the right direction to provide 24/7 access to evidence-based compassionate treatment to all of our residents.”
Most of the funding for the center will come from the state, through the federal 21st Centuries CURES Act.
The Maryland Department of Health and the Maryland Community Health Resources Commission are providing $2.6 million of the operating expenses.
Another $3.6 million has been secured through the state legislature, the city health department said.
The center will provide a place for people under the influence of drugs and/or alcohol to receive short-term medical and social interventions. Potential services include medical screening, connections to behavioral health and social services and buprenorphine to treat opioid addiction.
The stabilization center will be run by the Baltimore City Health Department with the Behavioral Health System Baltimore.
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