Recovery services in Northeast Kingdom bridge gaps in rural health care, presenters say

Lila Bennett, executive director of Journey to Recovery Community Center in Newport, told a healthcare committee that recovery services have become an essential part of rural health care in the Northeast Kingdom of Vermont and asked the committee to consider funding to expand similar programs statewide.

Bennett described a local “social detox” stabilization bed her organization opened in November 2021, a new sober-living and workforce program called Ben’s House in Derby, and peer coach programs placed in area schools. She said those elements, combined with coordinated hospital protocols and quick referrals to treatment providers, have reduced repeated emergency department visits and improved access to continuing care.

The request to the committee included three funding items Bennett listed: $1,600,000 for recovery centers statewide, $360,000 to establish a scholarship fund for recovery residences, and $500,000 for oral-health services to be paid from the state’s opioid settlement fund. Bennett said the scholarship fund would cover…