DRUG CLINIC EMPLOYEES QUIT, FAULT BOARD'S HIRING PRACTICES

Their craving for heroin unraveled their lives, and at times left them
living on the streets. But the nondescript red-brick building in Brighton
offers them something they desperately need: stability and, more
importantly, a chance to vanquish their addiction.

But now many of the 300 clients of the Addiction Treatment Center of New
England fear their struggle against drugs is imperiled.

Employees have said a bitter feud between the methadone clinic's board of
directors and employees over the board's hiring practices has triggered the
resignations of 10 of the clinic's 22 workers - including the veteran
therapists addicts say they've most relied on to help them stay off heroin.

Several clients have already slipped back into their drug-using ways
because they've lost their support system, sources familiar with the
clinic's situation said.

"I don't know what's happening there," said one client. "I've come a long
way, and I'd hate to go to another place."

The clinic's troubles began when the board hired two consultants for the
clinic who have business contracts with the employers of four of the
board's six members. Ex-employees claim this is a conflict of interest.

"They're draining money with these consultants," said Marty Paquette, the
clinic's nursing director. She said she quit several weeks ago because of
her frustration with new administrators. "It's a disservice to clients.
It's incredibly frustrating and sad."

But the consultants adamantly deny that their hiring poses any conflict.

"This is positively ludicrous," said Paul McDevitt, one of the two new
consultants, who is president of Modern Assistance Programs, a
Quincy-based, for-profit managed-care firm that assists private employers
with medical referrals, including substance abuse treatment. Former and
current employees said the not-for-profit clinic has paid tens of thousands
of dollars to the company.

McDevitt said four of the board's six members work for unions or trade
associations that have medical management contracts with his company.

"I know the people, but is that a conflict of interest?" he asked. "Who do
you work with in your life? The people that you know."

McDevitt's contract with the Addiction Treatment Center expired in March.
The clinic's executive director, Paul Bonner, said a second administrator
at Modern Assistance Programs, William Carlo, has been hired to work with
board members on a plan to create a halfway house for addicted mothers and
their children.

The alleged conflict of interest is one reason some employees quit, they
said. But many current and former staffers mentioned another dispute that
further fueled tensions between longtime employees and new administrators:
the board's March decision not to renew former executive director Richard
Slein's contract because of an internal dispute.

Employees have said Paquette's resignation, and the board's elimination of
Shelley Slatus's position as clinical director, were the reasons why so
many employees have resigned in the last few weeks.

Bonner, however, said he is working aggressively to recruit new staff and
boost employee morale.

"I'm so upset and traumatized, myself, by what's going on," said one former
clinic worker who resigned last week.

The clinic's trouble has drawn the attention of Massachusetts Department of
Public Health officials, who say that in a worst-case scenario they would
transfer clients to other methadone clinics.

Current and former employees of the clinic have asked the state attorney
general's office to investigate the board of directors for possible
wrongdoing. A spokesman for the office refused comment.

Despite the turmoil, those on both sides of the conflict say they have one
interest at heart: the well-being of recovering addicts, many also battling
emotional and/or psychological problems.

"The one thing that I would hope would come out of this is that, basically,
all eyes and ears would be on the agency to ensure that clients' services
were maintained," Paquette said. "My biggest concern is the clients."

But some of these clients say they feel confusion and despair at seeing
workers they have come to trust leave a place many consider a second home.

"It's not like people are going to come picket to save a methadone clinic,"
said one client who asked not to be identified. "I don't know what's going
to happen."