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Addiction treatment centre opens new medical detox

iRecover Addiction Treatment Centre near Tees officially opened its new six-bed medical detox.

iRecover Addiction Treatment Centre near Tees officially opened its new six-bed medical detox.

Clinical director Amy Coté said about 18 months ago a few detox beds were opened in an older part of the private addiction treatment centre to determine if there was a need for the drug or alcohol withdrawal program.

“It has been a huge success so we renovated our building and we have a new detox,” said Coté about the centre located about 30 km east of Lacombe.

She said there are not many medically facilitated detoxes in Alberta, and few where clients get their own private bedroom which are available at iRecover.

The detox program has licensed practical nurses on site 24 hours a day, and access to an on-call nurse practitioner and registered psychologist.

Located at a former prison work camp a few kilometres northeast of Tees, the 20-bed treatment centre for men was called Central Alberta Recovery Centre when it opened in July 2006. Now there are 25 treatment beds and women are also accepted.

Coté said access to detox is important and few facilities have both detox and treatment beds.

“A lot of times folks have to have a period of sobriety before entering a treatment centre because sometimes detox can be difficult to manage.”

She said about 95 per cent of clients end up going into treatment after detox.

For the past five years the centre has also accepted clients who have been ordered by the courts to go through treatment. But less than 10 per cent of clients at iRecover are there because of a court order because as a private facility it does not receive government funding, she said.

Detox at iRecover costs $750 per day, which is sometimes covered by employee assistance programs or health insurance.

She said the length of detox depends on the person’s withdrawal symptoms and the substances they used. Most iRecover clients are from Central Alberta, Edmonton, Calgary, and Fort McMurray.

The treatment centre faced opposition from some Lacombe County residents when it first opened.

Coté said the centre has been a good fit for the area.

“Even though we’ve been here for 10 years, it’s kind of surprising to hear people don’t know that we’re here.”

For more information visit www.irecover.ca

szielinski@www.reddeeradvocate.com