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SUGAR GROVE -- Pendleton County could expect about 200 "well-paying" jobs when The Highlands at Sugar Grove treatment facility opens in the former Navy base.
The ancillary impact on local business and services is also "anticipated to be extremely positive," as the owners already engaged local service vendors and will continue to do so as they launch this project, Cynthia Persily, CEO of Highland Hospital, told a group of local and state officials at the facility Friday.
The Highlands at Sugar Grove will be a 95-bed 28-day substance abuse treatment facility, scheduled to open this summer.
The closure of the Navy Information Operations Command in Sugar Grove and the loss of more than 300 jobs had a huge impact on Pendleton County's economy, schools, businesses and emergency services. Attempts to repurpose the 122-acre complex, complete with 90 dwelling units plus various offices, maintenance and support facilities, to a women's prison, a temporary shelter for unaccompanied refugee children or college for young adults emerging from the foster care system failed.
Melivora Partners in Birmingham, Alabama bought the facility for $4 million in February 2017 and has leased it to The Highlands at Sugar Grove for three years.
Persily acknowledged the help the federal, state and local officials had given to set up the systems so that drug treatment residential services can provide care for West Virginians "plagued by addiction."
"To the people of Pendleton County -- this is a reality and will be happening soon. Your community and the welcome we have received so far has been phenomenal," Persily said.
The Highlands at Sugar Grove will operate as a partnership between Meridian Behavior Health Systems near Nashville, Tennessee, and the Gersh Academy located in New York.
MBHS just completed purchase of Charleston-based Highland Hospital, Highland Health Center and Process Strategies in September. Highland Hospital is a 155-bed detox center, which could offer several days of detox recovery, but had to release patients later to an outpatient recovery, officials said.
"Our clinical team is overwhelmed by the possibilities that we can achieve here. … Our mission is to provide high quality behavioral health services in a caring environment. We can't think of a better place to provide these residential drug treatment services than in the heart of West Virginia where our future residents can heal their bodies and souls," Persily said.
The substance abuse treatment facility will have applications for jobs online at highland@sugargrove.com by mid-April. Jobs will range from clinicians, housekeepers and dieticians to groundskeepers. Its first onsite job fair will take place May 7 and 8.
Highland has more than 63 years of providing mental health and addiction services. MBHS plans to invest in West Virginia and help to meet the needs of West Virginians by creating a residential program for adults with substance abuse disorder to complement other addiction services currently offered across the state, Persily said.
Adults will transition from any detox program into the 28-day program and then into individualized service in their home communities or in the future to a "sober living community co-located with the residential program."
Services provided will include psychiatric evaluations and treatment, family therapy, individual therapy, group therapy, 12-step programs and case management. Through partnerships with other local health care providers, medical care for minor acute or chronic illness and other services will be provided.
Social issues such as housing instability, domestic violence, legal problems and others will be managed by social workers and case managers in conjunction with community partners across the state.
Additional services such as employment training, financial management and parenting programs will be offered as the program matures, Persily explained.
"All services provided by the program will take place in a structured residential setting that encourages individuals to make positive changes that will lead to substance-free way of life," Persily said.
The program is designed to engage the person, confront their addiction and make decisions to enter and progress through the recovery process. Continuing care involves reintegration into the community thorough meaningful work, education and or family reunification and eventual return to community living, Persily added.
The facility is scheduled to open July 1, the same month that health care providers in West Virginia can begin billing Medicaid for 28 days at residential treatment facilities, Persily said.
People who experience substance use disorder for whom residential treatment is appropriate will be targeted for admission to this program.
"We will specifically target West Virginians, however no patient who meets criteria for admission will be turned away if beds are available. All types of insurance will be accepted," Persily said.