A certificate of need should be filed this week for a methadone clinic to locate in Johnson City, nearly 10 years after a certificate was granted but later revoked, according to a representative of the company backing this latest effort.
Steve Kester, co-owner of Tri-Cities Holding LLC, a company started to locate a methadone clinic at 4 Wesley Court, said a clinic could be in place by the end of the year, maybe a little longer, should the Tennessee Health and Development Agency grant the certificate of need.
According to a legal notice, the certificate of need should be filed by Thursday.
Kester said he is part owner in nine other methadone clinics in four states. He has been researching establishing a Johnson City location for a few years and sees a need for such a facility.
“We know there are around 1,000 people from the Tri-Cities area... who are going either to Asheville (N.C.) or Knoxville to receive treatment today,” Kester said.
There are five clinics in Asheville and two in Knoxville, Kester said.
He said the partners of Tri-Cities Holding want to help make it easier for local people to get treatment for drug addiction without having to travel 100-200 miles for a round trip, depending on location.
Kester is a partner in two of the clinics in Asheville and said up to half the patients treated at those locations are from the Tri-Cities region.
For purposes of the certificate of need, the Tri-Cities region is defined as the nine counties in Northeast Tennessee.
Besides the roughly 1,000 people seeking opiate addiction treatment, Kester cited the fact that the Centers for Disease Control have said prescription medication abuse in this nation is an epidemic. He said the Tri-Cities region is not immune to this epidemic.
Asked if he thought the certificate of need would be granted, Kester noted that one was approved in 2003 for Johnson City but was overturned on a technicality. Opiate abuse has likely gone up since then, so Kester thought the chances of a new certificate being granted were at least as good as 10 years ago.
Backers of most new health care projects must apply for and receive a certificate of need, including methadone clinics in Tennessee. But there is more to the process than just a certificate being granted. A license must be obtained, staff hired and local issues must be resolved.
“Of course, we have to work with Johnson City and local leaders to get it set up, as well,” Kester said.
Kester acknowledged that, historically, methadone clinics have been opposed by communities but said it is a myth that these clinics attract drug abusers.
“We’re the antidote to drug addiction, not the contributor to it,” Kester said.
Another common myth, he said, is that significant crime increases accompany methadone clinics. He cited a 2012 study that claimed otherwise and, in fact, the prevailing thought today is that methadone clinics help decrease crime because people in treatment typically have jobs to support their treatment, whereas addicts often support their habit with criminal activity.
Kester said the section of land chosen for the clinic is zoned MS-1, which is required for a clinic. He said Tri-Cities Holding looked at 50 possible sites before settling on that Wesley Court location. That particular location meets the distance requirements for schools, parks and other specific businesses.
Kester said Tri-Cities Holding has nothing to hide.
Anyone interested in a public hearing on the clinic can request one as part of the certificate of need process.
Written requests for a hearing should be sent to:
Health Services and Development Agency
The Frost Building Third Floor, 161 Rosa L. Parks Blvd., Nashville, TN 37243
For more information regarding the clinic and how to send a letter, see a legal notice on Page 5B in Monday’s edition of the Johnson City Press.
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Editor's note: An incorrect address was given in the original legal notice regarding the proposed methadone clinic's location, and that address was originally reported in this story. That address has been removed and the correct address added to this story.
rhon0311 writes:
March 4, 2013
10:29 PM
Lets trade on drug for another! How about asking our youth how much they like using the Methadone and Suboxone they buy from folks who go to these clinics?
COPWATCH4U writes:
March 5, 2013
12:19 AM
rhono311-
What you need to do is get your facts straight, the biggest majority of the patients at a methadone clinic dose right there on premises in front of a nurse.
Now i guess you have evidence of EVEN ONE person selling methadone pills they got from a methadone clinic ? or even know someone who has sold methadone pills they got from a clinic? Be careful how you answer that now.
Perhaps the methadone was from a pharmacy or a pain doctor prescribed it,, What you are referring to.
Remove Money from Politics writes:
March 5, 2013
12:58 AM
This is something we need. Seems almost every day there is a meth related story on the front page here.
Laura Palmer writes:
March 5, 2013
2:41 AM
Remove Money from Politics :
Methadone treatment is for opioid addiction (morphine, heroin, codeine, oxycodone, hydrocodone, etc.) Not for amphetamines or stimulant drugs (crystal meth).
Remove Money from Politics writes:
March 5, 2013
2:59 AM
Sorry, I got my drugs confused. Thanks for pointing that out. 50% of babies born in Knoxville are born addicted to painkillers, and if the problem is that bad there it's at least as bad here. I still think it's something we need. Doctors here write prescriptions for these things like it's going out of style.
http://abcnews.go.com/Health/half-newborns-tennessee-hospital-prescription-drug-withdrawal-treatment/story?id=16755130
http://www.knoxnews.com/news/2013/mar/04/painkiller-prescriptions-in-tennessee-on-the/
cod3197 writes:
March 5, 2013
3:16 AM
methadone is nothing but a substitute for one drug, that is legal. you still have people driving under the influence. you still have people selling there methadone.
there is no need for a methadone clinic in our region. i have seen first hand the dangerous effects that it has on people and families. you become addicted to it even worse than what you would be do normal pain killers. its almost impossible for someone to actually get clean using this method, no matter what this guy says about helping people. all that is going to be accomplished is having more addicts, and more people becoming addicted to methadone
mysticalmoons30 writes:
March 5, 2013
9:53 AM
Why are people conplaining about a methadone clinic? Why are they not out picketting subozone clinics? Wesley St is a great location!
rockjock2000 writes:
March 5, 2013
11:32 AM
I thought I read a story in the JC Press a few months ago about the City wanting to relocate the Boys and Girls Club to the Traco property. Has this plan been scrapped? Traco is on Silverdale Dr, just across from the Wesley St address of the proposed clinic. The main building where the office is located is being renovated right now. Does anyone know who is moving into the Traco property?
rockjock2000 writes:
March 5, 2013
11:34 AM
found the article, here's the link: http://www.johnsoncitypress.com/News/article.php?id=103398
rhon0311 writes:
March 5, 2013
12:45 PM
COPWATCH4U
Guess you haven't worked in an adolescent residential drug facility lately.
WashingtonCoTaxpayer writes:
March 5, 2013
1:27 PM
If Johnson City only has about 1,000 people who are driving for their fix, then I say let them continue driving out of our city. This is not a great or urgent need if it is only 1,000 people out of the population of Washington County or Johnson City. Mr. Kester acknowledged that "historically, methadone clinics have been opposed by communities but said it is a myth that these clinics attract drug abusers" that being said, why is it that we have people who 8, 9, 10 years later are STILL on Methadone and has not even once been weaned from the initial dosing. Methadone clinics are simply a way for abusers or addicts to get it and have taxpayers dish out the money for it by using their TENN CARE to get it at the clinics. After placement of this clinic, if it gets its permit, the people of Johnson City should go ahead and prepare to open a rehab clinic for all the addicted babies born to the 1,000 people getting their fix locally. Bet your partners of Tri-Cities Holding, or Mr. Kester won't freely disclose the number if infants born in the area who are born addicted to the drugs distributed by these so called "CLINICS". Just say NO to Clinics!
Read more: http://www.johnsoncitypress.com/News/article.php?id=105201#post#ixzz2MgvC7VpY
brockmanra writes:
March 5, 2013
5:14 PM
PLEASE don't approve legalized drug dealing in your community. If the citizens of this community want to help people you can do so by helping to organize affordable rehab clinics.
At age 16 my son (never sick as a child) became very ill and developed pancreatitis. This is VERY painful illness and the doctors treat it with some of the most powerful painkillers that can be prescribed. Every for three years, every four to five weeks my son would be in the hospital with an attack. The treatment is stop feeding, IV drip, and HUGE doses of painkillers. After traveling all across the U.S. searching for answers, it was recommended that my son have his pancreas removed. A ten hour surgery. More painkillers, anther months stay in the hospital, and in the end a botched surgery.
At twenty six, he has been declared disabled and spent the past five years struggling with drug addiction. Do you know whom and where he get's his drugs....the guys in the white coats! All he has to do is step in any hospital or doctor's office and they will write a script.
Did you know there are NUMEROUS non-addicting painkillers on the market? Did you know that medicare will pay non-stop for the painkillers, but when it comes time for rehab...there are very limited options and medicare doesn't want to help.
The drugs from the "corner" pain management clinics are simply a replacement for methadone clinics are not going to help individuals who are struggling with addiction! It trades on drug for another and it is EXTREMELY expensive! This community would be so much better off approving better programs for affordable re-hab facilities and mental behavioral assistance.
I promise you...this clinic is not about helping people, it's about making money off of the sick and weak. PLEASE don't allow this clinic to open. The cost is between $300 and $600 per month, per person. The individuals who are running these clinics are making money hand over fist.
Prescription drug addiction is one of the fastest growing problems in this country. And addiction doesn't care if you are rich or poor. It is as bad or worse than cancer. It NEVER goes away. Recovery is a daily process.
Please don't allow these THIEFS into your community. Help people to recover.
brockmanra writes:
March 5, 2013
9:08 PM
JC needs more affordable resources for people to get help. Woodbridge Hospital only accepts private insurance programs and uses valium as part of the withdrawal process. Frontier Health and Magnolia Ridge have a four to six week waiting period to determine if patients can be accepted.
The only other option is for people to be dumped at the Hospital ER which is running up the cost of health insurance, because a majority of the individuals who have addiction issues don't have healthcare.
I cannot begin to tell you how many times I have attempted to explain hospital personnel that my son is addict....PLEASE don't prescribe opioids to him. I had one social worker at JC Hospital tell me that is a law that if someone walks into the hospital and claims pain they have to give them the painkillers.
Congress is so busy worrying about the gun laws right now when we need help with mental behavior problems. Society hears the word addiction and immediately judges.
Some family don't have $30,000 to spend for drug re-hab clinics. And if when someone has been given painkillers for years by "Professional Medical" personnel, the process for re-hab can't be seven to twenty one days. Johnson City is a beautiful town, wonderful Medical and Nursing Programs at ETSU, your community (like a lot of other towns in America) needs better/more programs for mental health behavior treatments. It doesn't need a "pain management" clinic. Because I assure you this....it will bread more drug problems than anyone knows. And the only individuals who will benefit are the doctors who will run it.
If anyone on this chat page has any authority to stop this clinic I beg you do so.
brockmanra writes:
March 5, 2013
9:14 PM
Just know, Mr. Kester doesn't want to open 9 pain management clinics because he is a caring citizen of JC, he is making BIG MONEY off of the sick and the poor. And when you read the words "holding company" it means he has a set up a shell corporation to protect himself financially.
brockmanra writes:
March 5, 2013
11:35 PM
P.S. My apologies for not correcting spelling and grammar errors before posting. This subject is very emotional and sometimes my mind runs faster than I can type.
speakthetruth writes:
March 6, 2013
6:58 AM
going to the methadone clinic does not cost $600 a month, it is about $12 a day. That is a lot cheaper than buying street drugs or even going to a cash only pain clinic. The article says over a thousand people currently go. That does not mean that only a thousand people have a need for it, it means that only a handful of people can afford to make the trip to Asheville or go around their work schedule. If a clinic opened in the tri-cities there would be a lot more people that would go. Methadone has helped a lot o people get their lives together and I fully support the idea of a clinic in Johnson City!!
notmymomudont writes:
March 6, 2013
12:16 PM
I agree with "speakthetruth"....The cost in about $10-13 per dose., added in with the cost of gas to make the trip to Asheville, for some it is just not affordable. The dose is taken in front of the nurse, not brought outside the clinic. People do not go to the clinic to get high. They go to get off pain killers, that in a lot of cases were prescribed by the family physicians. (OR sold on the streets, by those who obtain them legally, and sell them illegally to make a dollar.) There are many more lucrative ways of making money, than opening up a clinic for Methadone...so that theory doesn't hold water. What can anyone possibly have against making it possible for people who are addicted to pain killers to get rehabilitated, so they may lead a normal life? Anyone who disagrees with this clinic opening, must be highly delusional and misinformed. This city is overrun with meth labs, and crack heads, and all sorts of dope addicts, not to mention alchoholics...who can just run into their fav liquor store and legally leave with the drink of choice, and get plastered and get back in the car and drive away and kill someone! Don't see any of you folks opposed to a methadone clinic, opposing alchohol now do we? And of course the owner of the clinic is going to make money. Is there any reason to open any business other than to make money? However, some do have a special interest in actually doing something in this community that will benefit someone. Get of your "high" horse people, drug addiction is a reality here. Deal with it!
hours2kill writes:
March 6, 2013
5:28 PM
I agree that we need this clinic. It is a shame that people have to travel so far for treatment. Wake up people....we have a tremendous drug problem in this area. We need to offer people as many treatment options as possible.
cod3197 writes:
March 8, 2013
1:00 AM
yes the money cost is 10-13 a dose, plus gas. that is the financial cost of it. but the emotional cost and the impact that the methadone has on families can not be measured.
you dont always dose in front of a nurse only when you go pick up. then you get take homes, for a few days and up to a month.. it is when people get there take homes that they start selling there doses, which in turn gets someone else hooked on it. then they start going and splitting the gas so its cheaper on them.
then you get a car full of dosed up morons that cant drive because there are too impaired by the legal drugs that they are prescribed. which causes them to nod out while they are driving and going into another lane hitting another car head on, and killing someones lil baby daughter, or someone mother or father. all because of a legal high.
i would much rather hear about some moron getting high on fake weed and dying in they home, than to hear about someone wrecking and killing a van full of children on there way to school!!!
friend_of_tri-cities writes:
March 12, 2013
8:54 PM
Here's where to write in support:
Health Services and Development Agency
The Frost Building Third Floor
161 Rosa L. Parks Blvd.
Nashville, TN 37243
ozzie123 writes:
March 14, 2013
6:26 PM
Many of the comments above are made as a result of fear and not being truly informed on the subject. I have worked for years in Methadone clinics - they do help people - families and communities. They lower crime rate and deaths from over dose - they are highly regulated by the state and federal government. They employ very caring and reputable health care professionals who are extremely invested in the care of their clients. Methadone of course can be abused - like many other drugs - but dispensed to patients in a medically supervised clinic in therapeutic doses - Methadone does not cause impairment, euphoria or get you "high" it simply takes away the physical symptoms of opiate withdrawal - so that the patient can work through - with their counselor - why they became addicted in the first place, Not only individual counseling will take place in these facilities but family therapy and group therapy. Methadone is just not handed out willy nilly - it is titrated to a therapeutic dose individual for each patient - often employing blood work under controlled observation and timing to determine blood levels of methadone in the patients system. This blood work determines the highest level of the day and the lowest level of the day for a specific patient and dose. Patients are regularly asked to remain in the facility long after dosing to observe their individual reaction to their dose and are assessed regularly by nurses, counselors and the staff physician. Do not be afraid of this clinic, welcome it into your community - you will find a good neighbor and community supporter - providing out reach and education and support for programs for both youth and those at risk. Say yes and write in to the state and show your support and compassion for your neighbors that are struggling with addiction. Aren't we supposed to love each other and support each other - don't take the not in my back yard stand - step up to the plate and make a difference for issues that can save our communities.
provided.