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Combating The Opioid Crisis In Northeast Ohio: Community Medical Services Opens Addiction Treatment Clinic In Cleveland
'We offer same day treatment, walk-in services and treat patients with confidentiality and dignity.'
CLEVELAND — A new local addiction treatment clinic -- Community Medical Services at 6300 Brookpark Road in Cleveland -- is hoping to help more people in Northeast Ohio.
3News' Carmen Blackwell was there when the new center opened early Thursday morning.
Outpatients can walk into the clinic, complete a screening, meet with a licensed and certified counselor then a medial provider. Those patients can also receive same-day medication or treatment.
The goal for this clinic is to do more than treatment, but also to cut back the barriers that keep people from getting the help they need. This includes free transportation and help with paying for treatments and services for those who can't afford it.
Here's how Community Medical Services explains their operation:
Community Medical Services is more than just the leading methadone clinic and drug addiction treatment center. We'll meet you where you're at, using evidence-based practices to treat your substance use disorder with medication assisted treatment (MAT) along with counseling and peer support services. We offer same day treatment, walk-in services and treat patients with confidentiality and dignity.
The Community Medical Service hours in Cleveland are listed as follows:
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Planners Deny Rezoning Request For Methadone Clinic; Amendment Tabled
The Cookeville Planning Commission Monday denied a rezoning request that could have allowed a methadone clinic at 1225 S. Willow Ave.
The property is currently zoned Commercial Industrial, and Paul Trivette of Cedar Recovery requested to rezone that property, which was the previous location of the Upper Cumberland Development District, to Medical Services.
Several people spoke against allowing the methadone clinic on Willow Avenue, while others spoke about how methadone can be used as a life-saving tool for those suffering from opioid use disorder.
"In my experience in the California area, it brought in real outside criminal type elements, with trying to sell drugs, cruising neighborhoods, scoping things out, cars being stolen, all kinds of things," Cookeville resident Brian Anderson said. "This is not a hysterical overreaction to a stereotype. I'm sharing my experience of a situation I actually witnessed firsthand."
Another Cookeville resident, Connie Bellamy, said, "I drive Willow Avenue daily, so do my two grandsons who go to the high school and so does my daughter and other family members, so certainly my interest would be, traffic is already bad enough, but the collateral damage that's discussed. Why would we even consider changing a zone just so somebody could do any kind of addiction treatment center, closer to childcare facilities or a school or a public park where kids play?"
Honeybrook subdivision resident Robert Fuller said, "The latest Google map I can pull up says that there are, give or take, 125 residents in that subdivision. That's 125 families that we feel like will be very adversely affected by this request. We all feel like there will be a great deal of collateral damage here. We also feel like the property values, our homes, will be decreased tremendously. I think the cart is before the horse here, if they have not submitted a certificate of need, and that certificate of need is not granted, why are we even considering this?"
Several people, including Josh King, spoke about their journeys through addiction and experiences with methadone.
King said he had surgery in the early 2000s that required pain medication.
"I was prescribed a bottle of hydrocodone that at first I took responsibly," he said. "For some reason, the drug made me feel alive, the grass was greener, the sky was bluer, the anxiety that had always plagued me for years was gone. I was comfortable in my own skin for the first time in my life. This escalated into Oxycontin use into a short period of time.
"By 2003, I was using anywhere from 5-10 8 mg of Oxycontin a day," he said. "I went through inpatient treatment for 30 days but used shortly thereafter. Around April 2004, I made the decision to enroll in a methadone program. For the next three years, I experienced freedom. I was able to hold down a job, be a productive member of society. After methadone, I stayed clean for several months, due to the life I had for those three years. Yes, I made a poor decision to go back out and use. My clean date as of now is Jan. 4, 2013. I truly believe that methadone did save my life at that time."
Elijah Willis of Next Step for Life, a faith-based transitional living program, said, "People are going to come far and wide to Cookeville, Tennessee, to get methadone. The people that are coming, you don't want what they have. I used to drive to Maryville, five people in a Coupe Honda, everything sitting there waiting, lined out the door, to get methadone. It ruined my life. Completely ruined my life. Same car ended up breaking down, and I lived in that car for three months. I took everything I had. I buried nine friends. It's going to be hell on earth. This isn't just numbers on a paper. This is lives. It's homes destroyed. It's not just the user itself, but everybody they know and don't know. Cars broke into, doors kicked in. I was there. I did this. I know."
Willis's wife, Jennifer, said, "I know it's everywhere, and I know these guys at this recovery center are making it sound really good, and they're saying things like they want to help and they're on our side. It's a weapon in the hand of the enemy in my opinion. Our war is against people who sell pills, people who sell meth, heroine, methadone. They're all in the same category.
"I was destroyed by addiction," she said. "You do not come out of it by switching from one drug to another. I tried that. I've never been so sick in my life as coming off of methadone in a jail cell on a concrete floor. And I've been on every drug. It should be inpatient short-term treatment if it's going to happen at all. It should not be sent out on the street. People buy it, people sell it and mix it with other drugs. You take it with other drugs to get more high."
Dr. Stephen Loyd, medical director of Cedar Recovery, said, "The goal for every patient is abstinence. That's the goal for everyone. The problem we have right now is fentanyl. Fentanyl is killing people before they can find recovery. Methadone is a tough drug. It's long acting. It has a million and a half drug interactions, but unfortunately, it's the only thing that will keep some of these kids alive until we can help them.
"Methadone is a tool," he said. "It's a small tool. The biggest part of recovery is community and relationship. That's how people get better. That's how these folks get better. That's how I got better. There's a spiritual component to everything, and it's huge and it's massive, but a lot of people have been hurt as part of that spiritual process as well, and I think we can all agree that happens and the judgments they face in those places. We're about meeting people where they are no matter what and helping them keep alive.
"The goal for every patient we have is abstinence, every single one," Loyd said. "I've never put anybody on medication and said, 'Hey, you're going to be on this for the rest of your life.' Doesn't happen. Medication is a small part of it. I swear I go to bed every night and wish we had something better. Right now, we don't.
"We can either sit here and say well, we're never going to have enough beds so let these kids continue to die, or we can do something about it and try to keep them alive and help them find recovery," Loyd said.
A second request to allow methadone clinics as "a use permitted by right" in the medical services district was tabled at the recommendation of the city's community development director and legal counsel.
Currently, methadone clinics must receive a special exception from the Board of Zoning Appeals to be permitted in the Medical Services District.
"The city's legal staff and the planning division request the matter be tabled until proposed revisions are prepared for further consideration by the planning commission," Cookeville Community Development Director Jon Ward said.
The planning commission agreed with Ward's recommendation, and no date has been set for the amendment to be reconsidered.
Trivette has 30 days to appeal the planning commission's decision to deny the rezoning to the city council.
Methadone: Commission Denies Rezoning That Would Allow Clinic In Cookeville
The request was denied, and for the second time in six months, so too was Cedar Recovery
Once again, the voice of the people was heard Monday night when citizens of Cookeville spoke against a request by Paul Trivette of Cedar Recovery that would allow a methadone clinic at 1225 S. Willow Avenue by rezoning the trac from Commercial Industrial to Medical Services (MS).
The MS District is "intended primarily to provide a centralized, compact location for hospitals, clinics, medical and dental offices, and laboratories; to protect medically related facilities in the area from adverse influences, and to promote the establishment of complementary facilities," according to the zoning code.
The request was denied, and for the second time in six months, so too was Cedar Recovery.
Last year, the company tried to open a similar clinic in Rickman before withdrawing its application for a certificate of need due to "safety of patients and staff."
"Cedar Recovery applied for a Certificate of Need (CON) to establish an opioid Treatment Program in Overton County," said Cedar Recovery in a statement at the time regarding the Rickman facility. "At the town hall on Oct. 3, we faced community opposition and safety concerns. Threats were made against the proposed location and staff. Such behavior underscored the high safety risk that our patients, staff and property could potentially face, along with a hostile atmosphere within the community. After thorough deliberation, considering the attitudes, behavior, and dissent expressed during the Tuesday evening meeting, Cedar Recovery has decided to withdraw its application."
Currently, the zoning code requires methadone clinics to be no closer than 1500 feet from residential property, schools, childcare facilities, public playgrounds, public parks or churches. According to reports, Trivette made a second request to allow methadone clinics as a "use permitted by right" in the MS district.
That request was tabled. An appeal is available if Trivette chooses.
He has 30 days to do so, but would a third time be the charm? If the people have a say, the odds are against it.
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Ron MosesRon Moses is the managing editor of the Upper Cumberland Business Journal and can be reached via email. Send an email.
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