Clinic proposed to fight opioid epidemic
Rosas reached out to Hispanos Unidos of Buffalo, which operates a successful outpatient clinic as well as around 10 other support programs.
Eugino Russi, executive director of HUB, said he is familiar with the Dunkirk area and, after speaking with Rosas, believes HUB can bring what it has done in Buffalo to the city.
“I’m very familiar with the issues that are going on, so we have an opportunity to try to partner with Mayor Rosas on trying to deal with this problem. Since we’ve already done it in Buffalo, we figured that we’d try to bring a very similar program down here to try to address the issues,” he said. “… We would like to start with a clinic here because we know the opioid epidemic is hitting us all hard and something has got to be done. You can’t fight this epidemic by hiding your head in the sand because it doesn’t work that way. You’ve got to do something; you have to have the courage to do something about it. Otherwise, people are going to die.”
Russi assured there have been studies showing no negative impact from opening a clinic and he has seen it first hand with the 254 Virginia St. location in Buffalo.
He said that location faced opposition, but after two years with specific protocols in place and creating a culture of recovery, it has proven to be an asset to the community and the crime rate has dropped.
“There’s a lot of stigma that goes along with these types of programs. People look at people who are addicted to drugs and automatically they think of somebody with a needle hanging on their arm, falling asleep next to a building, or needles all over the place or problems with the schools because they’re in the neighborhood. I can tell you the folks that are getting treatment are people that have made the decision to leave the stuff behind and get themselves and their lives in order and get back to their families. So the stigma that goes along with that usually is just stigma, there’s no reality to it,” he explained.
Elizabeth Smith, program director of Alba De Vida, explained the Buffalo clinic is both a drug and alcohol rehabilitation center and suboxone/methadone clinic. She said it is a fee-for-service clinic with most patients having insurance and over a third of the 340 current patients being self referred.
The program itself is individualized based on the physician and patient’s situation and includes therapy as well as medication. She added only one medication the clinic can prescribe is an injectable, and the most common — methadone — is actually a cough-syrup-like liquid.
Russi also clarified this is not a “safe injection site.”
While HUB is a Hispanic-based organization, the clinic treats all races and ethnicities and plans to hire nurses and security from the community to offer programs in English and Spanish.
Rosas showed Russi several possible sites for a clinic in Dunkirk and the Flickinger building on Washington Avenue between Second and Third streets was his top pick.
“We are excited about that because of the condition of the building and because this is a much-needed service in our community,” Rosas said.
Russi said he anticipates the project costing between $4 million to $5 million and hopes to get help funding the project from the Environmental Protection Agency for abatement and from the Office of Alcohol and Substance Abuse Services capital funding. He said they plan to maintain the building’s historical exterior and remodeling the inside to suit their needs.
He said HUB is also looking to move quickly on this project.
“We’re on a fast pace because we know that for every day that we don’t build it, somebody’s going to die. So we know that’s the situation and our goal is to get this done as quickly as possible,” Russi said.
Preliminary applications have been sent to Chautauqua County and the OASAS field office and are pending approval. Once that is done, HUB will have to file a detailed application to OASAS and the EPA grant before anything moves forward.
Several community members were in attendance at the recent economic development committee meeting to show their support. Rev. E. G. Waller of the Friendship Baptist Church asked how the community can help to see this come to fruition.
Russi said he will let the city’s Development Department know, which in turn will let the public know.
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