MORGANTOWN — Hope Hill Sobering Center, the newest addition to Hazel’s House of Hope, held a ribbon cutting and open house Thursday.
“We look forward to providing a much needed and long-awaited community service,” said Deana Morrow, president of the center’s board and director of West Virginia University’s School of Social Work.
Those services include therapeutic help for those under the influence of drugs and alcohol, as well as a safe place to recover from intoxication, provide information and referrals and offer help to anyone in need, from students to those with long-term and deep addiction issues, officials said.
Morgantown Deputy Mayor Danielle Trumble said she believes the sobering center will quickly become an integral part of the fight against the disease of addiction by providing a safe alternative place to recover from intoxication — be it a student who had too much, a Mountaineer fan who celebrated too hard or a neighbor with long-term substance abuse disorder.
“We’ve always strived as a community to identify and fill in the gaps within our social service network,” Trumble said. “And this is the only facility of its kind currently in Morgantown, but also throughout the state.”
The center also will relieve stress on law enforcement and the area’s two emergency rooms, officials said.
Taking care of an intoxicated person takes up a lot of an officer’s time, Morgantown Police Chief Eric Powell explained.
They can’t exactly be left alone, and the only two options officers had was to take them to the hospital or North Central Regional Jail — assuming they did something worth an arrest.
“So a lot of times our officers are having to be the caretakers of these people,” Powell said. “And it takes up a lot of time, which takes away from their ability to answer other calls that might arise during that time they’re dealing with them.”
Having a facility like Hope Hill Sobering Center allows police to take someone to a place where they can receive some help, Powell said.
Morrow said all area law enforcement will be able to use the center. It will also take care of people dropped off by their friends and is open 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Thursday-Saturday.
Those initial operating hours were selected based on the most likely times the center will be needed. The hours will expand if needed, Morrow said.
Assistant City Manager Emily Muzzarelli received special praise for her hard work on the project from both Trumble and Morrow. In turn, Muzzarelli thanked a long list of partners in the project, stating that like any great endeavor, it really takes a village.
“I truly believe this is going to be an asset to our community, a great and much needed resource for our hospital systems to relieve the burden and to our law enforcement officials who continue to have more work to be done and not enough resources to do that,” Muzzarelli said.
The 15-bed facility opened last week. Morrow said it hasn’t had any clients yet, but with the upcoming home football game, she doesn’t think the wait will be much longer.
Services are offered by Ascension Recovery Services. Brad Pershing, lead senior associate of program development, said the company develops licensed behavioral health facilities and substance abuse disorder treatment facilities across the country.