ARC's rehab center making progress toward opening

Nov. 1—The new rehabilitation facility by Addiction Recovery Care (ARC) at the former OYO Townhouse hotel at 3136 W. Second St. and a second property at 3100 W. Second St. is currently under construction and looking to accept patients within the next year.

In December, it was announced that ARC, an organization that provides residential and outpatient drug and alcohol addiction treatment headquartered in Louisa, was approved for a conditional use permit for the addiction recovery center by the Owensboro Metropolitan Board of Adjustment.

Previously, it was reported in February that the facility would take about six months to build, according to Matt Brown, ARC's chief administration officer, when the center was in its preliminary stages.

As of Monday, John Wilson, ARC's market president for Kentucky, said the facility is still seeing movement.

"We are currently doing the renovations ...," he said. "The demo on all three structures has been completed. The three exterior buildings are currently being repainted (and) soft washed. The fire suppression system installation has been started."

Additionally, Wilson said the kitchen and deep freezer are in process, with the office buildings in the drywall stage slated for painting sometime this week and all new wall electric has been inspected.

Wilson believes the center will be ready soon.

"We are on target ... for probably the end of (the) second quarter of 2023 opening is what we're thinking," he said. "I'll probably look to start placing ... later-phase clients into this center probably in May ...."

Wilson said the rehab facility will eventually be available for all phases of treatment, but will initially be for later-phase clients.

"What we do is our first phase (is) the detox phase — where people are coming in right off the street," he said, "and then that goes all the way up to a full year of treatment; we offer the full continuation of treatment, and we will offer that at this center.

"But what we like to do is start the culture at this center appropriately, so we'll only bring in later-phase clients. We'll probably bring an outpatient level of care initially, and then we'll start working backwards and that way they can start making sure the culture in the center is appropriate for recovery.

"It's almost like a soft opening in the restaurant industry, if you will."

According to Wilson, the center will have 300 beds, more than 100 staff members and 24-7 on-site security.

There will also be recreational facilities, which Wilson said helps clients meet personal needs such as a space for those to attain their General Educational Development (GED) test and plans to have an area with weights and gym equipment.

"What we find is a lot of people when they do enter treatment, they want to work on themselves and not just their drug addiction, so we try to make those other facilities available," he said.

Wilson said there will also be "soft security features" to make sure the campus is protected.

"The buildings will be secure," he said. "...There will be a magnetic entry and those types of security features to actually get inside of the buildings."

Wilson said opening the center is meeting a need for the community, with the closest ARC facilities to Owensboro being an inpatient center near Springfield and an outpatient center in Louisville.

"There is a tremendous need in western Kentucky and we see an uptick in our referrals to that part of the state," he said. "...I think the entire region, I think there's a need and we think that we can help meet that need with the other providers who are there."

He said that the need has risen since the coronavirus pandemic, calling it "an epidemic inside a pandemic" and saw a "tremendous" increase in overdose deaths.

"What happened during COVID when everything shut down, there's an isolation that happens; and with the joblessness — I think a lot of people are self-medicating these other issues," he said.

With this new center, Wilson is looking to make a difference in the western Kentucky region.

"...There are more people in recovery today than there are in addiction; and that's something we don't talk about enough," he said. "Recovery programs do work and they are making a difference. Hopefully, the people in Owensboro and the greater Daviess County (area) will see that in the long term that (they will be) proud to have us there and know that we affected (the) community and individual families in a positive way."