MT WASHINGTON, Ky. — A new Bullitt County treatment center is opening its doors for men and women across the state looking to recover from addiction.
The Robert Alexander Center is looking to change lives and offer healing within the halls of the center.
James Sweasy is one of the co-founders of the center, which is named after a friend, who passed away in 2016 from heart failure
WHAS11 News has followed the construction of this building for a year.
Now Sweasy is pleased to see it standing tall in Bullitt Co. where he grew up
"For so long, some of us were part of the problem, and now we get to be part of the solution," he said.
The Robert Alexander Center can treat up to 50 men and women at a time
and the more beds the better. Across the county line, the Jefferson County Coroner says he expects close to 600 overdose deaths in 2020.
Amy Spain-Duncan is the Director of Nursing at the center and says the center provides a safe place for those seeking treatment.
"Each one of those deaths is someone's mother, or someone's child or someone's friend," said Spain-Duncan. "If I can save one life today, if I can make the difference in one person's life, if I can give one mother her child back, then I will get up early and come in here and work late every day."
The treatment center is currently home to 15 people going through a two week detox and it will also offer 45 to 60 day programs.
"With these numbers of overdoses during this pandemic and what we're seeing, it's very important that we as a community remain available to these people, and what I mean is, centers working together, be it hospitals, other recovery centers," said Spain-Duncan. "This is not a competition. We need to work together to get as many people as possible the care they need."
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