GREENFIELD — Dr. Ruth Potee, a Valley Medical Group physician who has become a leading voice among groups working to stem to the tide of opioid and heroin overdoses in Franklin County, has been selected as the medical director of the addiction detox facility expected to open in Greenfield this spring.
Behavioral Health Network, the substance abuse disorder provider which will operate the detox, known as the Franklin Recovery Center, announced Potee’s hiring Thursday evening.
The facility will be located in the former Lunt Silversmith building and will accommodate 64 treatment beds for substance users seeking treatment, who need medical monitoring as they withdraw from drugs like opioids or benzodiazepines, or alcohol.
Patients will be able to stay in the facility for about a week as they’re stabilized and use the time to plan the next steps in attaining recovery, including a transition to the Northern Hope Center, located within the same building.
Participants in the NHC will receive support in the early days of recovery.
“Dr. Potee is so well regarded for her expertise on addiction treatment, we couldn’t be more thrilled and honored to have her join the medical provider team at BHN,” said Dr. Sara Brewer, BHN’s statewide medical director in a press statement.
Potee said in the same statement that she hopes the facility will be able to offer top evidence-based treatment programs, including cognitive behavioral and motivational enhancement therapies, mindfulness, yoga to reduce stress, alongside medication-assisted recovery.
“I’d like us to create pathways to treatment that evidence shows will work well,” Potee said. “These options include planning for long-term sober living when appropriate.”
Long-term sober living is a philosophy grounded in changing a substance user’s environment entirely, allowing them to start life over elsewhere and hopefully reduce the risk of relapse.
“We have to think beyond a week of treatment,” she said. “Most people need one and a half to two years of being substance free until they truly feel they are getting better.”
Potee, an addiction specialist, has led the regional Opioid Task Force’s healthcare solutions committee since 2013. She is also the medical director at the Franklin County House of Corrections and the Pioneer Valley Regional School District.
Potee lives in Northfield. In 2015, she received the Franklin District Medical Society’s Community Clinician of the Year award.
You can reach Tom Relihan at:
trelihan@recorder.com
or 413-772-0261, ext. 264
On Twitter, follow @RecorderTom