HEARD SEEN& Heard

“What we really wanted to do was build a center for healing that was a community-supported center,” Sullivan said. “So people can come in for just brief information, or pick up a NARCAN kit and go, if that’s where they’re at. Or they can come and talk to us about something we don’t even do here at the council. And we can help them, feed them, give them a place that’s safe and warm, until whatever that other service is is available.”

In addition to the community partnerships, the facility’s sta is training a cohort of ve individuals, who themselves are in recovery, as peers to help patients.

“ ey don’t do the clinical medical stu , but they help nd housing,” Parker said. “So they help sort of in the margins with all those other supports people need to have to help make those connections.”

A consult room on the oor is for patients, who are already committed to open access care, to talk with a consultant about receiving a di erent level of care, such as detox. Here, the consultant conducts an intake of the patient’s background and insurance information, and then the patient can head upstairs therea er to begin detox care. Parker said the process is very individualized.

“ ey don’t have to be sent someplace else, or get any kind of referral,” Parker said. “ ey can just go right upstairs from here. … So we don’t push anybody into anything.”

Much of the open access oor focuses on harm reduction care. e facility’s sta is currently looking into purchasing and installing vending machines that would dispense, for free, NARCAN kits, which contain prescription medicines that reverse the e ects of an opioid overdose, and fentanyl test strips.

“A lot of users want to have one on hand in case,” Parker said of the NARCAN kits.

“If people are concerned about what they’re about to use, they can test and see if there’s fentanyl in it,” she said. “So that’s harm reduction. at’s not treating people; that’s not, redirecting their lives. It’s keeping them alive, which is the most important rst thing to do.”

Visitation of patients in stabilization care will not be allowed once the facility is opened, though Parker said the program committee is developing a plan to allow visitation of patients in the future.

“In the detox places, [there is] a lot of bringing drugs in, there’s a lot of contraband,” she said. “So we have to be very careful that people don’t bring things in, and things don’t get stashed in hiding places. So it’s that trying to hit the balance of being very compassionate, making this comfortable, caring space, but also being aware of people are not in a good place; they’re desperate to get the drug they’re giving up. So we have to be mindful.” e second oor of the building is where the detox and stabilization care will occur. is oor features 40 beds where medically supervised withdrawal is performed. Most of the bedrooms are doubles (two beds), but there are some single bedrooms for those who are very ill or those who would like their gender identity to be respected. ere is a section on this oor that is a negative pressure space, meaning that the air circulated there is separate from the rest of the building. Parker said if a patient contracts COVID-19 or another contagious illness, they can be moved to this section to prevent any spread of sickness.

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Ithaca High School Senior Clara Bennett will be dancing at the Irish Dance World Championships in Montreal April 4th-7th. Clara placed in the top ten and World Quali ed at the 2022 Mid Atlantic Regionals, which only about one percent of Irish Dancers accomplish.

Seen

Tompkins County Sheri Derek Osborne has launched an investigation into cases of check fraud and found that a number of the cases involve similar tactics. Investigations revealed that checks are being stolen from local residential mailboxes.

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