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 initial costs, such as a first month’s rent, for people leaving treatment who are homeless or otherwise unable to pay for sober living.

Bennett said Journey to Recovery’s social detox bed has supported 136 unique visits and 39 repeat visits since it opened, and that the stabilization bed helped hospital staff by providing a place for people who are medically cleared but not ready for inpatient treatment. “Hospitals are not detox centers and nor should they be,” Bennett said, adding that the local arrangement allows doctors to discharge patients to a supervised, nonmedical setting with established protocols. She credited North Country Hospital with providing meals and linens and said the center developed written protocols with doctors to determine eligibility for the social detox bed.

She described coordination with local treatment providers: Valley Vista responds to referrals seven days a week, and Serenity House serves a smaller role. Bennett noted Valley Vista was not taking methadone patients at the time of the meeting, which had affected placement for two people she described as being held in the community while awaiting screening and placement.

Bennett described Ben’s House, a sober-living and workforce development program created from a former nursing home purchased by Jenna’s Promise founders Don and Greg Tatro. The program had five residents at the time of her testimony; residents are required to engage with Journey to Recovery and participate in trauma-informed services and workforce activities in the Northeast Kingdom.

On prevention, Bennett said peer coaches embedded in North Country High School since fall 2022 reduced school disciplinary infractions from 53 the prior year to nine so far in the current year and increased student interactions with peer coaches from about 30 in September 2022 to more than 700 per month. She said the supervisory union is revising policies so initial meetings after substance-related school incidents occur at Journey to Recovery, a neutral site intended to engage families and connect parents to treatment. “We have already sent four parents to treatment who are engaged because of their children,” Bennett said.

Committee members asked clarifying questions during the presentation. A committee member identified as Mari asked where the bed is located; Bennett answered that it is in the Journey to Recovery Community Center, “right across from North Country Hospital.” Another committee member asked Bennett to repeat the funding “ask,” which she did during the discussion.

No formal vote or committee decision was recorded in the transcript excerpt. Committee logistics noted the presenters would return after floor sessions if the committee could meet at about 11:30 a.m.

Bennett summarized her message by linking recovery services to broader rural health outcomes: reducing emergency department use, lowering repeated inpatient admissions, increasing workforce participation, and helping students build resilience. She emphasized that community collaboration and a system of peer support, stabilization, treatment and sober living closes service gaps in rural health care.