The Pines at Poteau busy these days
The Pines of Poteau, a substance abuse and recovery facility, which opened Sept. 1, is already quite busy, according to Health and Wellness Center/The Pines at Poteau Marketing Director Connie Olcott.
“The Pines at Poteau is a 40-bed substance abuse and recovery facility,” Olcott said to members of the Poteau Kiwanis Club during the local civic organization’s weekly meeting Thursday afternoon at Western Sizzlin. “The Pines of Poteau sits on 35.6 acres of land on Tarby Road. It has a beautiful pond on it that we’re getting ready to do some work on. It has 20 units that are little cottages that are fully efficient. They’re like an apartment. It will house two patients. They each have their own bedroom and will share a common living space, dining room, kitchen, TV room and a bathroom. We have already got some patients already utilizing our services. They have access to 24-hour counselors and the nursing staff. We take pride in that because we want to help them recover. We are currently taking males age 18-plus. We’re very excited to have it.”
One of the biggest things behind the construction of The Pines at Poteau was the ability of family to be a part of the recovery process.
“One of the most important things about recovery is having your family because they also have been living with that disease.” Olcott said. “You can’t do a successful program when you can’t be there to help them.”
Poteau’s late former mayor was very instrumental in getting this facility built.
“(Former Poteau) Mayor Jeff Shockley was very instrumental in helping us write grants to help fund some of this (construction),” Olcott said. “He went and talked to local contractors. The bulk of everything at that new clinic and recovery center was totally produced by Poteau — contractors, air conditioner guys, plumbers, lumber stores and hardware stores. Our local contractor was David Knowlton. He really worked hard with the local businesses to insure we got what we needed — and got it at a fair price. It all came out of Poteau because that’s what we promised we would do — and we fulfilled it. We wanted (this part of) Oklahoma to have a safe place to enter recovery and have a chance at living a normal life. That’s our whole mission.”
The Pines at Poteau is one of the many facilities in the Health and Wellness Center system.
“Today, we’re the largest rural health care system in the state,” Olcott said. “We have facilities in Poteau, Wilburton, Stigler, Checotah, Eufaula, Warner and Sallisaw, three pharmacies in Stigler, Eufaula and Checotah and two recovery centers in McAlester and The Pines at Poteau. We are a full-fledged medical clinic. We do health services. One of the new things is called medication assisted treatment. For those who are addicted to Codone or patients chained to a Methadone Clinic, we have a way to combat that with a drug we call Suboxone. It’s a little strip you put under your tongue — and you have your methadone dose, but it’s not methadone. Very shortly, we’ll have optometry on site, and another couple of surprises coming down the road with the dental department.”
Basically, anyone can get treated in some capacity at any Health and Wellness Center facility.
“We do see the insured and under-insured,” Olcott said. “If someone is underinsured or has no insurance, they qualify for a $20 office visit. You can’t go to a $20 doctor’s office visit and get what you need. No one is ever turned away for any circumstances. If they are present and in need, they’ll be seen by one of our providers or doctors.”
One of the newest campaigns the Health and Wellness Center facilities are battling is opioid addiction.
“Sequoyah County is the largest opioid overdose patients in the state,” Olcott said. “So, what would that mean for Poteau? If there’s that many drugs over there (in Sequoyah County), do you think they’re here? Sure they are, so we’ve gone on a mass campaign to help. We also run a program where we supply and train people on opioid overdoses. We’ve been providing your first responders with naloxone. It’s a nasal spray, and it comes two doses to a box. If they see or think they see that this could possibly be an overdose, they can administer that. One dose usually does it. It will bring the person back around. If they ( first responders) don’t see them coming around in three minutes, they’ll apply the other dose.”