Baldwin Brothers Opening A Drug Rehabilitation Center In CNY

A new rehab is good news for CNY.

There is a drug epidemic in CNY, Oneida County officials say there have been 21 heroin overdoses over the last few weeks of March that have resulted in five fatalities, primarily in the cities of Utica and Rome.

Syracuse.com reports that the Baldwin brothers will open a drug rehabilitation center in either Onondaga or Oswego County in the coming year. The Baldwin family, and especially Daniel Baldwin, is frustrated with the lack of drug addiction treatment options in Central New York.

Daniel Baldwin isn't shy about being an addict, his drug of choice was cocaine, and as part of his recovery, he helps families struggling with addiction.

Syracuse.com says he is currently looking for a property that could be used for a 100-bed center where 30 of those would be inpatient.

The rest would be different phases of sober, supervised living. The center would provide clients with a year of treatment and be run in concert with SOBA, a treatment center that Baldwin often sends people to when they come to him seeking help. [Syracuse.com]

The rehab is still int he planning phase so there's no word if it will be a for-profit, nonprofit, or how it will be funded. He did tell Syracuse.com that the plan is to open the facility with SOBA, which would be in charge of the day-to-day operations and treatment model.

The NY Times says 70,237 people died from drug overdoses in the U.S. in 2017.

If you feel helpless, join the Insight House for a free Narcan training. Once you're trained in how to administer the medicine, you'll receive a free rescue kit.

Naloxone (Narcan) is a medicine that blocks the effects of opioids and reverses an overdose. Seating is limited so reserve your space at  315-724-5168, extension 238.

Kevin Donovan, Overdose Prevention Coordinator for ACR Health tells WKTV:

"We’re in a reality right now where people are dying. Really 9 people in this state die every day from an opioid overdose."

Fentanyl is making its way into just about every kind of drug out there; people often don’t even know what they’re taking. ACR Health is supplying drug users fentanyl test strips. The strips are used to determine if fentanyl is present in the drugs you’re using.

ACR Health obtained a $2000 grant through Excellus Blue Cross to distribute fentanyl test strips. At only a dollar a piece, the cost of the strips compared to an ER visit makes them a very cost-effective tool in combating overdoses.  [WKTV]

We hope these lifesaving fentanyl test strips are made available in the mainstream quickly.