News Talk 94.1/AM 1600 Where The Upper Cumberland Talks
Cedar Recovery officials said Wednesday’s Certificate of Need victory for a proposed methadone facility feels bittersweet.
Cedar Recovery Chief Strategy Officer Paul Trivette said he is happy after the Tennessee Health Facilities Commission approved the clinic. Trivette said it was an emotional day hearing several oppositional comments from Putnam County leadership.
“We have heard a ton of support from people that do want us there,” Trivette said. “We are in the community already, and we are not going to let, as I spoke yesterday in our presentation, we are not going to let the three percent of people that have been speaking up in the proposed service area to say ‘no we don’t want this,’ overshadow the people that do want it there. The people that need it there, the people that need access to that treatment.”
Trivette said he hopes the relationship between Cedar Recovery and Putnam County leadership has not been damaged by the discussions, which were sometimes contentious Wednesday.
Trivette said it will take time, “a number of months” to get the clinic operational, beginning with the real estate transaction and the build-out of the facility on Burgess Falls Road.
“We got to get it up to the codes, the standards, and all that,” Trivette said. “Then we have to become licensed by the Tennessee Department of Mental Health. That will have to go through an inspection. We then have to be registered with the Drug Enforcement Administration, so they will have to come out and inspect it and make sure that it is fully compliant with all of their rules.”
Those steps will be followed by accreditation of the facility and application for insurance contracts.
“Once all that happens that’s when we can open our doors,” Trivette said. “So we are a number of months away from this.”
Trivette said it was tough hearing county leaders speak against the clinic. Trivette said the door is always open and hopes that county leaders will continue to meet with the organization so the program can be successful in the community.
“I think they are phenomenal people,” Trivette said. “Mayor Porter, General Dunaway, Sheriff Farris, and everyone that spoke I think they are all fantastic people. I think they all have amazing hearts. I think that we may be on different sides of this is what is hard, but I am personally committed and I know for a fact that at Cedar Recovery we are committed to working with the community and trying to bridge this gap.”
Putnam County Attorney Jeff Jones alluded several times that Cedar Recovery said the organization would not go to an area where they were not welcomed. Trivette said many people mentioned the organization backing out of Overton County after a Town Hall meeting with Overton Cunty Officials.
“We actually received multiple calls after that meeting asking us to come,” Trivette said. “Even from the property owner themself asking us to continue purchasing the property and go through with the project. We backed out or withdrew our application for Overton County because of the threats that we received. The mayor there actually requested everybody not to burn the building down and that he had heard that conversation out there.”
Cedar Recovery began the process of trying to bring a methadone clinic to the Upper Cumberland 18 months ago in January of 2023. Trivette said there was not much opposition until the final stages of the process.
“We only continued all the way through on the understanding that there was definitely a want for us to bring the service to the community,” Trivette said. “That’s the reason that we kept going through the process. It was only after we filed the certificate of need that there started being some pressure applied that they didn’t quote on quote want it there.”
Trivette said people who receive the service and are driving every day asked for the clinic to come. Trivette said people testified on their behalf along with letters of support saying that a clinic is needed in the Upper Cumberland. Trivette said the clinic is not stepping on the toes of other forms of opioid addiction treatment and does not look to replace them but also provide an additional form of treatment as different treatments work for different people.
“We do not want to interfere with the existing programs,” Trivette said. “The axis-based programs, the faith-based programs, and the programs that use medication on short-term. We want to work with them. This is not an either-or proposition. We want to be a part of this community. We want to be a part of the treatment continuum and we want to support one another. We do a whole lot better when we work together than to be separate.”
Putnam County Mayor Randy Porter said he and other Putnam County officials will explore all options for appealing the decision. Trivette said with county cooperation the clinic will be successful and bring the help people need.
“Patients have to be appropriate for our treatment,” Trivette said. “We have very strict drug testing requirements. We have very strict counseling, therapy, and peer recovery support requirements. In fact in our current facility in Cookeville over 90 percent of patients are not only engaged in therapy but 80 percent of those get it on the same day as their medical visit. The same thing is going to be true here. We prioritize the therapy and the behavioral change that has to come. The medicine is not going to cure anybody. All it’s going to do is help us to keep them engaged and we are going to have strict accountability to make sure that this is not a nuisance because we submitted that good neighbor agreement. This is going to be a positive benefit to the community and to the people who need it the most and have unfortunately been ostracized because of their disease and we want to be a part of that change.”
