HEALTH CARE
While other behavioral health centers have suffered financially in recent years, The Providence Center bucks the trend with remarkable growth. Between fiscal years 2010 and 2016, TPC’s revenue increased 50 percent, from $30.6 million to $46 million. Employment increased to 810 from 477. And clients served rose 81 percent to 14,458 from 8,000, said Dale Klatzker, president of the 47-year-old TPC, which has 30 sites in Rhode Island.
Demonstrating TPC’s commitment to meeting community needs and helping people achieve recovery, its Anchor Recovery Community Centers are run by and for individuals living in recovery from substance-abuse disorders.
Klatzker credits several innovative programs, including AnchorED and AnchorMORE, which connect high-risk, high-need individuals to appropriate services and supports, with helping fuel TPC’s steady uptick.
“Two other factors enhance our ability to be innovative. Funders have been flexible in helping us respond to tough challenges,” he said.
This is particularly true of the R.I. Department of Behavioral Healthcare, Development Disabilities and Hospitals regarding the ongoing opioid epidemic, as well as the state Department of Health and individual donors, he said.
Additionally, in 2014, TPC became an affiliate of Care New England, which brought new resources and partners, including Butler Hospital.
Serving all Rhode Island hospitals 24/7, AnchorED is on the front lines, dispatching trained recovery coaches to emergency departments, informing patients of TPC services and admitting people who have experienced an overdose from drugs.
“AnchorED is using the strengths of those in the recovery community to address the statewide problem of opioid overdoses,” said Klatzker. Recovery coaches have met with some 400 individuals since March 2016.
AnchorMORE’s teams of recovery coaches handle outreach, and have had 864 conversations with individuals about addiction.
The Anchor programs received the Scattergood Foundation’s National Innovation Award in 2016. •
