A local council focusing on addiction is expanding its service capacity with a new women’s recovery home in East Moline. Rock Island County Council on Addictions Executive Director Scott Dahlke says women are currently having to travel for addiction recovery services or are looking in the wrong places.
“We actually have no place in a 200-mile radius like this that will treat women searching for recovery," Dahlke said. "This forces women without having a place like this. It forces women who want a second chance to get these types of services, these types of residential services in homeless shelters, in inpatient units, in emergency rooms, or on the streets, which is just not appropriate.”
The home will include 16 beds for women seeking addiction recovery. Dahlke says the home is needed to address growing demand.
“It's incredibly unfortunate," Dahlke said. "It's almost inhumane, in my opinion, that you have to wait sometimes up to six months to get into a recovery, residential recovery home, let alone an outpatient program. So we're hoping that by opening this home, we can reduce those wait times just a little. It's been our battle cry here for the past year is to make sure that anybody who calls for service can get an appointment within 24 to 48 hours. And we've been able to meet that goal recently. Now we want to make sure we can extend that same timeline to people looking for residential care."
The nearly $1 million project is using $500,000 from the county’s opioid settlement funds, with the remaining funds from the Moline Community Foundation and private donors. The center is set to be completed in late May.
RICCA currently offers a 30-bed men's residential program with individual counseling and twice-a-day group therapy.
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