Investing in recovery

Kerry Vanwert was 7 years old when a male family member began grooming her for sex. The abuse escalated to rape when she was 12, with the man pushing her to use marijuana and alcohol. By 15 she was a “full-blown addict,” who would graduate to cocaine and her eventual drug of choice, methamphetamine.

Vanwert’s affliction caused her to give up a son for adoption, lose custody of her three daughters for two years and go through treatment twice, only to relapse. Her daughters watched helplessly for years as their mother struggled to regain control, only to have her fall apart again and again.

But today, the 46-year-old Spokane woman can snuggle on the couch with her girls next to a chalkboard that says “I love you, Mom!” thanks to state-funded treatment for low-income people with drug and alcohol addictions. As of today, Vanwert has been clean and sober for 16 months, and she and her daughters think this time it’s for good. She’s planning to enroll in college classes this fall to become a chemical dependency counselor with an additional goal of working with children who’ve been sexually abused.

“It’s not easy,” Vanwert said. “It’s been a long hard road. But it’s out there for you if you want it. I grew sick and tired of watching my life go by. I was too damn old to keep doing what I was doing.”

Life changes like this are possible for more Washington residents, including thousands in Spokane County, after the state’s expansion of funding for chemical dependency treatment for the neediest residents – those on public assistance. Before the additional dollars became available, Spokane County ran a waiting list for a drop-in support service; more than 100 people per month took part in the program while waiting for a publicly funded treatment opening.

“Prior to them putting aside more funding … those are the ones that were falling through the cracks,” said Karen Evans, a chemical dependency professional with the Camas Institute, a treatment program run by the Kalispel Tribe in Airway Heights. “We’d have people that would call … and we’d say we can’t help you at this point in time.”

Spokane County’s waiting list was discontinued last July because of the expanded funding. In the first two-year period, from 2005 to 2007, Spokane County received $1.076 million in additional funding. Because the county met or exceeded goals for numbers of clients served, that funding jumped to $1.03 million for the one-year period stretching from July 2007 to June 2008 – and to $1.57 million for 2008-2009.

The number of Spokane County clients on public assistance served by chemical dependency treatment has doubled from 852 the year before funding was expanded to a projected 1,579 this year.

“Anybody who is eligible that is interested in receiving treatment, they will get chemical dependency treatment,” said Doug Allen, director of the state Division of Alcohol and Substance Abuse. Allen said DASA has helped people on public assistance in the past through federal block grants or state money from other programs, but never before had funds devoted specifically to this population. “This is a huge new infusion of money we’ve never had.”

A DASA study shows that helping people with substance addictions become sober saves taxpayers $287 per client per month in medical costs alone. Those savings come from people not going to the emergency room and not being admitted to hospitals, Allen said.

Initially, DASA lost some of the money allocated toward helping this population because it couldn’t effectively get the word out that treatment was available. DASA also struggled to find treatment programs interested in focusing on this population that could expand. People with substance abuse problems on public assistance often have myriad problems, including lack of a solid family structure, medical issues and mental illnesses.

“I was very frustrated. I know treatment works. I know these people are sick. To have to give money back when I have money to treat them was disheartening,” Allen said. “Once you get treatment, you can save money. This is so obvious, it’s almost scary. Our state is finally starting to get smart that way.”

A shortage of certified chemical dependency counselors also threatens to slow the program’s expansion. The jobs, which pay in the low- to mid-$30,000 range, require a minimum two-year college program and a 2,000-hour internship.

Making use of the expansion money hasn’t been a problem in Spokane, said Dan Finn, Spokane County’s drug and alcohol coordinator. Spokane has a solid provider network, he said, and the county is developing ways to find more people with substance abuse problems who are eligible for treatment. The outreach includes working with Sacred Heart Medical Center’s adult psychiatric unit, reaching youth at residential crisis centers, and expanding into outlying areas, such as Deer Park.

The county also is one of only three statewide, based on performance, that received expansion funding to treat youth with chemical dependency problems, Finn said. The county received $105,187 for 2007-2009, which will fund treatment for an additional 53 young people, he said.

“Just having the doors wide open isn’t going to attract more clients,” Finn said. “The nature of addiction is that there needs to be some kind of incentive to seek treatment. We’re looking to go to places where we can find clients that might not be headed our way otherwise.”

Starting July 1, a Spokane treatment program called ADEPT (Alcohol and Drug Education Prevention and Treatment) will begin providing chemical dependency treatment out of a new Deer Park office, said office manager Angie Lanman. She said she’s hoping the expanded funding will enable the Deer Park office to grow and meet the needs of people in northern Spokane County.

“There’s really not a whole lot in terms of treatment centers out that way,” Lanman said. “You’re either driving all the way to Newport or going into Spokane. There are some people commuting all the way into Spokane three or four times a week.”

And for people who want to get clean but have lost their license because of a drug- or alcohol-related driving offense, transportation can be a challenge.

George Pimms Jr., of Spangle, recently graduated from a two-year treatment program at the Camas Institute after his third driving under the influence arrest. Losing his license meant the 45-year-old relied on his father and stepmother to drive from Spokane Valley, pick him up in Spangle, take him to treatment in Airway Heights, then drive him home.

“The support from everyone around you… the sincerity that you really are trying to regain your sobriety … people will bend over backwards to help you obtain that,” said Pimms, who hasn’t used alcohol or drugs for 26 months.

After beginning treatment, Pimms was re-baptized and returned to his church, which provided the single father a part-time job as caretaker and a temporary residence for him and his two teenagers. He has devoted himself to his children and seen his relationship with both grow stronger and more personal. The family also was recently approved for public housing assistance.

“I could possibly have lost custody of my kids. I could very well be so close to homeless. When you’re addicted you have no sense of tomorrow. You only have the sense of your immediate needs for alcohol or drugs. You basically do whatever it takes to do that,” Pimms said. “Literally because of my treatment and because of the church, I was able to hang onto what I have and, over the last two years, rebuilt my life.”