Kelso opioid clinic could open in January

The meeting is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. in the Longview Public Library at 1600 Louisiana Street.

The clinic will be run by Acadia Healthcare, a multinational behavioral health care provider that operates six similar clinics in Washington.

The company has already obtained the necessary permits and remodeled its Kelso office space, said Todd Broderius, a chief integration officer with the Great Rivers Behavioral Health Organization.

As a regional health care organization, Broderius said Great Rivers received money from the state to contract with Acadia to deliver opioid addiction treatment services in Cowlitz County.

The state has made siting an opioid treatment clinic in Cowlitz County a priority because it’s currently paying roughly $1 million in annual transportation costs for more than 120 people who receive treatment in Clark County, he said.

“These are folks that would otherwise be able to go out and work or get started with education,” Broderius said. “These are people in recovery trying to put their lives back together. But they’re having to wipe out their whole day to get the treatment.”

Although Cowlitz County residents only account for 1.4 percent of the state’s population, the county uses about 7 percent of the state’s money set aside to transport individuals to opioid addiction treatment, according to state data.

Between 2012 and 2016, Cowlitz had an opioid-related death rate of 13.6 per 100,000 people — the third-highest in the state, according to the state Department of Health.

Counties are required to provide a local treatment option for opioid addiction under a 2016 state law.

Following the public hearing, the clinic is expected to be up and running by the end of January, Broderius said.