Carroll County officials are expected to request bids this week from private vendors who would operate a $3.3 million drug treatment center in Sykesville that is scheduled to open to patients in October.
Patients would come to Carroll's 48-bed, 15,000-square-foot center after undergoing detoxification in another clinic with 24-hour nursing, said Jolene Sullivan, the county director of citizen services.
"The need was for more intensive counseling services," Sullivan said, after she toured the facility with the county commissioners."
A rise in heroin abuse among Carroll County's teenagers and young adults in the late 1990s prompted officials to begin planning for the center. Ten heroin overdose deaths were reported between 1997 and 2000, county officials said.
More recently, rates of cocaine use have increased as heroin use has decreased, said Susan Doyle, director of addictions for the Carroll County Health Department.
The new facility will offer drug counseling to patients 20 hours a week for nine months or five hours a week for six months, in addition to job training and help with affordable housing. "Patients can make progress within the same facility. It's a continuum," Sullivan said.
The center is expected to treat about 70 Carroll County residents within a year, Doyle said. The county expects to pay a private vendor $750,000 for first-year operating costs, Sullivan said. In subsequent years, insurance, Medicaid and room-and-board payments may offset some expenses.
The Carroll County Health Department will continue to operate the 36-bed Shoemaker Center in Sykesville for shorter-term, medically-intensive drug treatment. laura.mccandlish@baltsun.com