LOCAL

New Franklinton center to provide addiction treatment options, resources

Bethany Bruner
The Columbus Dispatch
The Stop Addiction For Everyone Resource (SAFER) Station, 368 W. Park Ave., Franklinton, opened Tuesday. The facility will help those battling or recovering from addiction by offering addiction treatment services, primary wound care and support services.

A new center that opened Tuesday in Franklinton is designed to help provide for those battling or recovering from addiction while also providing other services and resources. 

The Stop Addiction for Everyone Resource (SAFER) Station, 368 W. Park Ave., located just off Sullivant Avenue, will be open for 20 hours a week Mondays through Saturdays, but will expand hours as more staff are hired. The facility will offer a multidisciplinary approach to community needs.

Franklin County Commissioners, who championed the project, say the center will offer availability to addiction treatment services as well as primary wound care and support services, such as applications for social service benefits, state ID cards, birth certificates and more that may be needed to access treatment.

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"It is important for this community to know they can trust everyone at the SAFER Station and that we are there to be a good neighbor and resource," Commissioner John O'Grady said. "Those who come to this center will face no judgments, no requirements; they will only find staff who will listen and want to help."

The new center is funded with two federal Comprehensive Opioid, Stimulant and Substance Abuse Program grants: one through the Bureau of Justice Assistance for $1.2 million and another from the Ohio Office of Criminal Justice Services for $891,108.

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The program initially began in Whitehall as the "S.A.F.E. Center" through the county's Office of Justice Policy and Programs. However, because of the workload of first responders, the program was not feasible long-term. The new center uses a variation of the same model, making additional resources available as well as walk-in appointments.

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The center has a licensed social worker on staff who has extensive experience managing cases and handling support services, including helping clients who have completed inpatient treatment and are living on their own again. SAFER Station also will have community health workers and peer supporters to help with screening, case management, recovery support and education.

The center had a private opening Tuesday for community members, local businesses and nonprofits to provide the opportunity for meeting center staff.

In 2021, Franklin County reported 825 deaths from overdoses, the second-highest total ever recorded in the county. According to data from the Franklin County Coroner's Office, 89% of those deaths were attributed to fentanyl.

Dispatch reporter Nathaniel Shuda contributed to this report.

bbruner@dispatch.com

@bethany_bruner