Addiction agency getting new home
BY MICHELLE L. START Correspondent
Fort Myers is one step closer to opening a new 40-bed detoxification center after Southwest Florida Addiction Services announced it had awarded the construction contract to Owen Ames Kimball Co.
The current facility has 25 detoxification beds, but there are typically about 35 to 40 people on a waiting list.
"There isn't a day that passes that we aren't forced to turn away people in need of immediate detoxification because there are no beds available," said Kevin Lewis, SWFAS chief executive officer. "It truly is a tragedy in progress."
The project will include a 44,000-squarefoot detox unit and outpatient counseling. Administrative offices, prevention offices and a triage center will also be eventually housed on the 4.2-acre lot on Evans Avenue that was donated by the City of Fort Myers. The total project will cost $9 million, of which officials have already raised $5.3 million. Some of the money came from gifts from the Lee County Commission, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, State Housing Initiatives Program through the Board of Lee County Commissioners, Southwest Florida Community Foundation and Lee Memorial Health System.
The new detoxification center will replace the existing facility on Dixie Parkway in downtown Fort Myers that is housed in a 47-year-old converted motel. SWFAS plans to break ground later this year with completion one year later.
Charlotte County will also be receiving a 14-bed detoxification unit, which will increase area beds to 54.
"A few months ago, we had someone call on a Friday. We were able to get her in for the next day, but by the next morning she was deceased. She had died of a drug overdose," Lewis said. "Too often when people can't get in, bad things happen."
Part of the issue is that a person going through detoxification stays at the center anywhere from three days for alcoholism to 11 days for opiate addiction. SWFAS typically treats about 1,400 patients a year in the detox center, but that number is expected to increase to 1,800 this year.
A 2001-2002 study by the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism found that roughly 5 percent of the American population abuses alcohol, but among 18 to 29 year olds that number is about 7 percent. From 30 to 44, it's 6 percent. The percentages show a significant increase from a study that had been done ten years earlier where overall about 3 percent of the population abused alcohol.
A person withdrawing from alcohol can experience the shakes, hallucinations, confusion, disorientation and hyperactivity.
Lewis said the area is seeing a growing number of people becoming addicted to prescription opiate drugs, as well.
According to a 2005 study by the National Institute on Drug Abuse, an estimated 48 million people (ages 12 and older) have used prescription drugs for nonmedical reasons in their lifetimes. This represents approximately 20 percent of the U.S. population. Researchers also found 9.3 percent of high school seniors had used Vicodin and 5 percent had used OxyContin without prescriptions.
Some of the symptoms of opiate withdrawal include sweating, agitation, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea and abdominal pain. Most opiate overdose deaths occur in people who have just withdrawn or detoxed, according to the National Institutes of Health.
SWFAS is Southwest Florida's most comprehensive substance abuse treatment and prevention program, operating from nine offices throughout Lee and Hendry counties. Since 1980, SWFAS has helped more than 63,000 residents in Lee, Charlotte, Glades and Hendry counties rebuild their lives. SWFAS offers treatment services at all levels of intensity including residential, outpatient counseling, and group therapy for both adults and adolescents. In addition, SWFAS provides detoxification services for adults, prevention programming for all ages, and an Employee Assistance Program for about 80 Southwest Florida businesses.
