Treatment, resources and a foothold toward sobriety: Those are the features expected to be on offer at the Gibson Gateway Center’s new medical sobering unit set to open in mid-December. The project is one that officials have long said will help fill an urgent need for those in the city experiencing homelessness who also need medically-supervised treatment for alcohol and substance use disorders.
The open layout is set up to accommodate up to 50 people at a time, with beds, recliners and private rooms for clients to decompress. The unit will operate around the clock and clients can stay for up to 24 hours, officials said.
While there, clients will have access to counseling, housing navigation and other support options. Albuquerque is now one of about 60 other similarly designed medical sobering centers located across the country, officials said. The center was funded in part from $4.35 million appropriated by Bernalillo County and $4.2 million in federal funds secured by New Mexico’s congressional delegation.
The new unit should be welcome news for area hospitals, as a number of those living on the streets end up in emergency rooms in order to sober up — placing an additional strain on hospital resources for non-emergency situations. Albuquerque Fire Rescue and Bernalillo County Fire Rescue staff are expected to refer clients to the new center.
“Far too many people are taken to hospitals for substance use issues, and that’s not always the appropriate place,” Health, Housing & Homelessness Director Gilbert Ramírez, said in a statement. “People will now have access to a safe space to gain sobriety with medical oversight while also being connected to case management and other vital resources.”
Albuquerque’s Listo Health was selected through the city’s request for proposals process to operate the center. Officials said peer support workers will also be on staff to share lived experiences and offer support to clients.
“If this medical sobering center was around when I was struggling … I believe it would have set me on a path to recovery much sooner,” Denise Thomas, a peer support worker with Albuquerque Community Safety, said in a statement. “It would have given me the space and support to get the help I needed, without judgment.”
Thomas works in ACS’s opioid education program.
Eventually, one of the options for those who are discharged from the center will be the forthcoming Recovery Gateway, for those battling drug and alcohol addiction. The city broke ground on that project in October — a micro-community pallet home campus near Pan American Freeway and Candelaria Road NE.
It is expected to house up to 50 people in 46 pallet homes — 42 single-occupancy units and four double-occupancy units for couples. Residents can stay up to 24 months or until they are connected to longer-term recovery housing.
For more: Mayor on homelessness: ‘We just have to do more’
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