Recent detox center policy changes have created tense relations between Madison police and Dane County officials, but some argue the changes have yielded positive results for those seeking long-term care.
In early 2012, some detox center beds that were previously used to observe intoxicated persons overnight were repurposed to provide long-term treatment for individuals. The treatment requires the beds for five days.
The new policy that caters to long-term patients has yielded some positive changes, according to Dane County Executive Joe Parisi. Under the old model, there was a 45-person waiting list for long-term treatment. Since the new policy was implemented, the detox facility has gone through the entire waiting list and treated an additional 40 people.
“The crux of the model change is that people who needed five-day treatment in detox facility are now receiving that treatment,” Parisi said.
Parisi said the beds in the county’s detox facility, run by Tellurian UCAN, were being “overrun” with cases of intoxicated people staying the night and then leaving the next morning. He added people who actually wanted to recover from alcoholism could not be treated because there were no beds for them to use.
He said most of the people seeking treatment for alcoholism at the detox facility cannot rely on outside support such as family or friends. The people who need the long-term treatment want to change, but they need the availability of the county’s beds to get through the initial stretch of alcohol relapse, he said.
For long-term treatment, patients stay in the detox facility for five days and are monitored by medical staff while they go through the worst effects of alcohol withdrawal, according to Parisi. After five days, the patient is either moved to a residential facility or a community system for further treatment.
In contrast, patients taken to the detox center by police are in protective custody. This process takes place when police identify an individual who is dangerously incapacitated by alcohol and drop him or her off at the detox facility for a stay overnight.
He added that there is a discrepancy between these protective custody cases and patients who need long-term care.
“Dane County needs to find a balance between having a place where drunk people can be dropped off and treated,” Parisi said.
The county currently has 19 beds available on the weekend for short-term police drop-offs. Seven days a week, 10 beds are available for long-term treatment, according to Parisi. Sunday through Thursday, five additional beds are available for protective custody and three additional beds are used for long-term treatment.
Madison Police Department spokesperson Joel DeSpain said the police are willing to talk about how to create a better environment for curing alcoholism in Madison and will continue to work closely with Dane County to improve the facility’s conditions.
Parisi said the recent disputes between the police and the detox facility have not been out of animosity, but because both parties are trying to find the best way to accommodate the new policy change. Parisi described the new policy as a “work in progress.”