SUBSTANCE ABUSE PROGRAMS DISAPPEARING FROM REGION

Help for substance abusers, already in short supply in western North
Carolina, is getting harder to find.

The Balsam Center near Sylva, which offered crisis services for
substance abusers as well as other services, closed its crisis
management and adult recovery unit in December. A patient of Murphy
Counseling Services on Valley River Avenue said he has been informed
by Murphy Counseling Services personnel that an intensive outpatient
program for substance abuse will be discontinued.

One of the biggest problems of the beleaguered mental health system in
North Carolina is the lack of available substance abuse programs.
James Dustin said he was attending an outpatient program on Jan. 28 at
Murphy Counseling Services when the lights went out. Patients were
sent home after being told the electric bill hadn't been paid in three
or four months.

Dustin said a representative from the Michigan-owned company told
employees that it is closing down part of the program at the end of
this month.

"They told me they will stop offering this intensive outpatient
program," Dustin said. "They are the only ones who offer this service
[locally]. They talk about how much these programs are needed. They
committed to doing this and now they are leaving a lot of people
hanging in the air."

No one answered numerous calls to Murphy Counseling Services on Jan.
28. The phone was answered Jan. 29 but Keith Lamontagne, director of
North Carolina offices, did not return a phone call.

Shelly Lackey, community relations coordinator for Smoky Mountain
Center, said the Michigan-based company discontinued substance abuse
services in Clay and Macon counties within the past month. Smoky
Mountain Center had been trying to start the intensive out-patient
program for some time. If the service is discontinued by Murphy
Counseling Services, Smoky Mountain Center will try to find another
source to offer the program.

According to a published report, Doug Trantham, operations director
for the Smoky Mountain Center, said that the Adult Recovery Unit at
the Balsam Center suspended admissions as of Dec. 12, effectively
shutting down crisis mental health stabilization care for the western
region. The decision also means emergency services must move out of
the Balsam Center.

The report also said that Trantham is expecting authorization to open
three mobile crisis management teams and six walk-in clinics across
the seven-county southern region of Cherokee, Clay, Graham, Haywood,
Jackson, Macon and Swain counties.

"The Balsam Center is needed more today than ever before, particularly
by detox and dual diagnosis treatment," Trantham said. "It is our
intention to reopen the crisis center next year, but really, we do not
know when and under what conditions we can re-open the system."

Lackey said the adult recovery unit served patients for up to 15 days
who didn't need long-term, in-patient care. Closure of the program is
temporary. An in-patient unit opened at Haywood Regional Hospital.
That unit cares for patients with mental health problems but not those
with substance abuse issues alone. However, patients dually diagnosed
with mental and substance problems are admitted to the Haywood unit.

In the last several months five psychiatric care nurses have resigned,
leaving an insufficient number of nurses at the Balsam and Haywood
units.

"For consumer safety, we had to close the Balsam unit," Lackey said.
"Substance abuse services are really needed. It is a challenge not
having that adult recovery unit [at Balsam]. It is temporary. We are
going through recruitment and hope to reopen [the unit] by April."