FARMINGTON – Provider Services of Skowhegan has opened a second clinic at 187 Main St. to bring medically assisted treatment for substance abuse closer to many of its clients.

The agency announced the opening Thursday on its Facebook page.

“We actually have some clients in here that have transferred to (Farmington) because it’s closer to where they live,” said Rosemary, an administrator who asked not to disclose her last name. “We do psych evaluation and treatment. We have an advanced practice psychiatric nurse practitioner.”

Provider Services has been offering treatment to its clients for four years with a high rate of success.

“With the amount of clients we have, I would say we have probably a 90% success rate of people that stay on the road to sobriety,” Rosemary said.

Drug addiction, specifically opioid addiction, has not slowed down. Due to factors such as the pandemic, overdoses statewide are higher than in 2021, which set a record of 636 deaths. That was a 23% increase over 2020.

Asked why Farmington, Rosemary said, “Farmington was chosen because it’s kind of between Skowhegan and Portland, (and we’re) trying to hopefully help out the Lewiston area, Portland area. Anybody that has that need.”

The Portland Police Department reported in July that fatal drug overdoses had already surpassed the total for all last year.

There have been 3,962 overdoses in the state this year through the end of May, compared with 3,292 in 2021 during the same time.

“We don’t want people to have to go on a wait list,” Rosemary said. “If people are ready to get on the road to sobriety, it needs to be now, not in a week, because then they struggle within that week. That’s why we’re a very small practice, because we put our focus on our clients. We want to make sure that whoever wants the service and needs it right now can get in right now.”

Rosemary has spent many years working in the mental health and substance abuse fields and felt the need to have a practice specializing in addiction.

“We’re just seeing the massive need for the (medically assisted treatment) service,” she said.

It’s not a lack of providers, she said. Primary care physicians may have five or 10 patients they see for medically assisted treatment but it’s not their full focus. “So, I said, ‘let’s do this and make it the focus’ so that that’s what we’re focusing on. There’s so much that goes into it, between understanding their psychological and physical needs to reviewing their confirmations that come back from the lab, sitting down and having conversations with them to find out where this is coming from.”

Provider Services can be reached at 207-399-4438 for both locations.

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