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EL PASO COUNTY, CO -- El Paso County has a new detox facility for the first time in more than six months.

The Lighthouse, the county's old detox facility, closed in January because of a lack of funding. Immediately after, county officials began brainstorming ways to get a new facility up and running.

With the help of Sheriff Terry Maketa they decided to add it to the criminal justice center since it already has the components necessary to run a detox facility.

The sheriff said the funding came from three sources:  Memorial and Penrose Hospitals and the State Division of Behavioral Health.

The new detox facility is not actually located at the Criminal Justice Center (CJC), but rather at the El Paso County Sheriff's Office Metro Facility at 210 S. Tejon, a temporary location until the permanent building is complete.

As far as the impact the new center will have, officials said it will be enormous.

"Essentially what we were doing was taking a problem in the community and dumping it on the ER [emergency rooms], so if you or I need ER services, now we are competing with people who need detox services," Sheriff Terry Maketa said.

Maketa said the new detox facility will take that burden away from the county's hospitals. He said at a hospital a patient may only receive medical attention, where at a detox facility they receive so much more.

"We will have the ability to provide medical here, but also we are going to have the referral and assessment to get those people out for treatment so they are not contributing to that revolving door we see in the detox industry," Maketa explained.

The sheriff said the facility will be open to everyone in the community, and not just the homeless. Its capacity is 20 beds, the same as the Lighthouse had, but the sheriff added the permanent facility at the CJC will hold double.

As for the center's counselors, they said they are excited to be back at work.

"We are the foundation for treatment, people come here for a safe detox, so we can medically watch them and make sure they go through withdrawals, and we give them the foundation of referrals," detox coordinator Teri Lawerence said.

Lawrence said having a working detox facility is important to any community's overall safety and well being. Maketa echoed her words and said El Paso County is setting the model for other counties to follow.

"We are kind of a hybrid between a traditional social model and medical model. We are right in the middle, we have medical people on staff and then the treatment components, and then we are taking it a step further with funding to provide treatment beyond our walls."

If you or someone you know is in need of detox services, call 719-520-7122, or go directly to the facility.

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