Serving Lincoln County for more than a century!
Serving Lincoln County for more than a century!
New option in Davenport for clients
DAVENPORT — The Lincoln County Alcohol/Drug Center will soon be no more.
The County Commissioners elected to shut down the office at a regular meeting July 3, and gave a closure date of Aug. 11 at a regular meeting Monday, July 17.
“We had 30 days to notify our clients of the closure, which we did July 12,” Commissioner Jo Gilchrist said. “We gave them three providers (to transfer to), including two in Airway Heights or Northeast Washington Alliance Counseling Services.”
Alliance Counseling Services is the most local option for the county’s eight clients currently with Alcohol/Drug, Gilchrist said. The Service is based in Colville but has an office on 13th Street in Davenport.
Dr. David Nielsen, a psychologist with Alliance Counseling Services, said the office will provide the same services Alcohol/Drug did.
The county is following what Nielsen and Gilchrist referred to as a “statewide push” to create a one-stop shop to treat both substance abuse and mental health issues.
“Oftentimes, the two go hand-in-hand,” Nielsen said.
The news is less beneficial to the three employees of Alcohol/Drug. One had already taken another job, but the other two were let go in a commissioner’s decision on July 17.
But it’s a decision that has loomed for some time due to monetary concerns, Gilchrist said.
“We were concerned with finances,” she said. “Years ago…there was a lot of grant funding. That money went away. But our decision was purely based on the integration of these services.”
Alcohol/Drug employees didn’t return calls for comment. The commissioners said Monday some employees hadn’t been in the office in recent weeks, without their knowledge.
“(Clients) are going to have a smooth transition,” Gilchrist said. “There is nothing (New Alliance) cannot provide.”
Drew Lawson is the editor of the Davenport Times. He is a graduate of Eastern Washington University.
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