The vacant VNA building on West 89th Avenue in Merrillville will soon be the home of Recovery Works, a 32-bed drug and alcohol residential rehab center.
The facility is expected to open in about six months, according to Matt Rice, with business development for Recovery Works.
Recovery Works currently has three locations in Kentucky.
“This is for people who want to come. It’s not a lock-down facility,” Rice told the town’s plan commission Tuesday, when Councilman Richard Hardaway, D-2nd, asked about security.
“We don’t take prisoners out of prisons,” Rice said.
He said most of their clients are referred from doctor’s offices, emergency rooms or their employers.
Rice said the clients will be under a doctor’s supervision and will have around-the-clock nursing care. He said ideally clients would stay at the center for 30 days, followed by an outpatient program, but added that patients can leave earlier.
Recovery Works’ program includes medical detoxification, drug and alcohol rehabilitation, outpatient therapy and a Suboxone maintenance program.
“This is wonderful. When you have substance abuse there is no place you can go. No one cares,” commission member Pam Palmateer told Rice.
Commission member Brian Dering echoed Palmateer’s sentiments.
“This is something that has touched everyone, whether a family member, friend or co-worker,” Dering said.
Merrillville attorney Richard Anderson, representing Recovery Works, said the former VNA building, 201 W. 89th Ave., was zoned for hospitals, which makes the rehab center a permitted use.
He said the building was vacant since 2008 and needs quite a bit of work, including a new roof and parking.
Karen Caffarini is a freelance reporter for the Post-Tribune.
