\'It\'s not right\': Sauk County to be without addiction recovery center with Tellurian to close

Who may feel uncomfortable tomorrow.

Sauk county is soon to be without another addiction resource center.

Just more than three years after it opened, tellurian will close.

Amy reid joins us now with what this means to the community.

This is hard for them.

Just last year, ssm closed their addiction recovery facility, and tellurian was supposed to make up for that.

Now that none of them are there, the community is left wondering.

29:42 it's a big problem in our area.

:44 it's a big problem.

It has been for years.

We got caught with our pants down.

We were sleeping when it started, i think.

:53 because you live in a small community, most people thought it wouldn't happen by us, :57 charlotte huelsemann knows the struggle first hand.

For more than 30 years, she's been recovering from an alcohol addiction.

32:38 thank god the help was there when i needed it.

Because i was pretty low in my life too :43 and thank the lord they had the help :48 because i benefitted from it greatly :51 soon others won't have that, at least not in the same way.

After three years trying to fill the need in sauk county, tellurian's northern facililty will close.

43:44 the need is very much a real issue.

It's a major epidemic.

When the other programs closed, tellurian was hopefully that we could come in and fill a need :56 unfortunately funding, and getting the right, qualified people to stay here instead of taking a job in madison, got the best of them.

It's frustrating.

34:44 it makes me angry.

It makes me feel like they don't care about our communities.

:48 charlotte doesn't want to see them go.

She knows how bad it's needed by people all over rural wisconsin.

28:06 it was a major blow.

But i'm getting through it :10 people like her son.

28:15 he had a terrible terrible drug and alcohol problem and he just couldn't get past it.

And i don't really think they did a real good job, it wasn't their fault it's the insurance companies they won't pay for it.

But now they have nothing.

:33 she's far from the only person in wisconsin that's dealing with a loss from addiction.

And those people say if we want a solution, the burden of recovery needs to sit on a community's shoulders.

Just like we rally for a person with cancer, the same mentality should exist with addiction.

54:26 they're in the fight of their life.

And everyone around them is in that fight.

Addiction is such a lonely disease :33 there's so few people around that person fighting that fight with them.

And that's been the case for as long as i've been in the fight :47 farley works with organizations like tellurian to try and solve this problem too.

And even though the group has to move out of sauk county, they're still figuring out how to help by trying to organize transportation for those struggling in sauk to come to madison for treatment.

49:02 we're working really hard to let people know that just because you live in a rural community doesn't mean you don't deserve the same quality of care and length of stay that you would if you lived in dane county or milwaukee county :15 charlotte hopes they come up with something, though preferably a new facility close to home.

Especially before it's too late for someone else.

41:03 there's people that are dying and to just leave them just drop them and leave them it's not right :08 it's just not right.

It's not the human thing to do.

:12 the sauk county facility won't close until june.

If you are interested, tellurian has a charity golf tournament coming up at the end of the month.

We'll put details for that