Published: November 04, 2009 08:00 pm      

Drug addict clinic info released

Health Cabinet is slow to respond to CJ’s Open Records Request

Pulaski Fiscal Court, Somerset City Council, UNITE and some local citizens went on record as opposing a drug addict treatment clinic in Somerset after first learning of it following an article last month in the Commonwealth Journal. But several local public officials were aware of the proposed clinic as early as last June, and signed memoranda to that effect.

Those signed statements were submitted to the Kentucky Cabinet for Health and Family Services by:

• Pulaski County Sheriff Todd Wood,

• Pulaski County Jailer Mike Harris,

• Janis Barton, COO of the Adanta Group, and

• Carolyn Palmer, representing the Somerset Office of Vocational Rehabilitation.

The signed documents each specifically state:

“This memorandum does not reflect whether you agree or disagree with this treatment, only that you did receive this memorandum.”

The memoranda cont-ained no explanation as to why the signatures were solicited or whether they were required by law. (In past years, the endorsement of public officials for addiction clinics has been obtained by parties seeking to license such facilities and submitted along with their applications. However, these latest statements appear to be in the form of notification rather than endorsement.)

The memoranda, along with applications and other documents related to Somerset Addiction Solutions, LLC, a methadone treatment center under construction in Somerset, were received this week in response to an Open Records Request filed with the Cabinet by the Commonwealth Journal. The newspaper’s request was filed on Sept. 30, and state law gives government agencies three working days to respond. However, in this case the requested information was not released by the Cabinet until Oct. 30. No written explanation was offered for the delay.

While some information protected by law was redacted from the documents, according to Anne E. Burnham, assistant counsel for the Cabinet, the released filings provide insights into the owners’ — Terry Scott and Lori A. Nation, M.D., acting as partners — rationale for a establishing an addiction treatment clinic here.

The documents reveal that on Aug. 12, 2009, Scott and Nation were issued a license to operate Somerset Addiction Solutions, an outpatient alcohol and drug treat-ment clinic in Somerset. State officials earlier told the Commonwealth Jour-nal that this license is the first step in obtaining a second license for an opiate addiction treatment license.

According to Scott and Nation’s application, their clinic:

• Is located in a 2,400-square-foot suite at 3540 South U.S.. 27 in Somerset. On Aug. 12, the facility was inspected and found in compliance with state licensure require-ments. (There is a discrepancy between the description of the clinic’s location in Scott and Nation’s application, and the actual license granted by the state. The applicants gave their address as 3540 South U.S.. 27, while the state issued License No. 810277 for a clinic at 3640 South U.S. 27.)

• Will draw from a potential pool of 2,881 addicts on heroin or other morphine-like drugs within a 100-mile radius of the clinic. (The sole function of the clinic will be narcotic treatment.)

• Will begin with 110 addicts in treatment, and a projected rate of intake of two per week contingent on transportation to Somerset, patient outreach and referrals.

• Will primarily dispense Methadone and Suboxone to treat the addicts in an effort to remove clients from exposure to disease and the necessity to engage in criminal activities.

• Will be open Monday through Friday from 6 a.m. to 2 p.m. and from 7 a.m. to 8:30 a.m. Saturdays and Sunday, with dosings administered from opening through 9:30 a.m. weekdays and until 8:30 a.m. on weekends.

Prior to filing its Open Records request, the Commonwealth Journal’s repeated attempts to contact Scott for comment went unanswered. How-ever, following an Oct. 1 Commonwealth Journal article which disclosed plans for the proposed clinic, and after the paper's Open Records request had been filed, Scott agreed to be interviewed. That inter-view appeared in the Oct. 18 edition. However, on Tuesday, Oct. 27, Scott, reportedly acting on the advice of his attorneys, declined to attend a public forum on the clinic held at Pulaski County Courthouse.

Among information concerning the clinic that is being withheld by the Cabinet is:

• Its plan of operation,

• The chain of command and roles of staff members,

• Release of drawings that would pose security threats,

• Financial records and funding sources, and

• Memoranda for supportive services with non-public third parties.