SARANAC LAKE – Leaders of two North Country addiction treatment centers say the merger of their organizations will help more young people battling heroin addiction.

St. Joseph’s Addiction Treatment & Recovery Centers, based in Saranac Lake, has aligned with Rose Hill, a drug treatment center for adolescents in Massena.

Founded in 1971, St. Joseph’s provides inpatient alcohol and drug treatment for 65 male and female residents, plus 25 male military veterans at its Glenwood Road campus in Saranac Lake. The agency also offers outpatient services through its six clinics in Franklin and Essex counties, and it provides after-care facilities in Poughkeepsie and Schenectady.

Rose Hill began operations in 1988 specifically for substance abuse treatment of adolescents in northern St. Lawrence County. It currently provides residential services, including drug and alcohol rehabilitation, for 14 male and female clients between the ages of 12 and 21 from throughout New York and parts of Canada.

One of the immediate benefits of the merger, the organizations said in a press release, is a plan that’s already been submitted to the state for expansion of the number of beds at Rose Hill from 14 to 21. The increase would help address the increasing number of adolescents seeking treatment for heroin and opioid addiction, according to the release.

“Rose Hill is a dedicated inpatient adolescent program with specific expertise in treating heroin addiction,” Jim Grant, St. Joseph’s communications director, said in an email to the Enterprise. “Their treatment model, combined with St. Joseph’s greater resources, should provide for greater access to care, and an expanded continuum of care, from admission to ongoing recovery.”

St. Joseph’s President and CEO Bob Ross said the affiliation will provide an enhanced range of services and improved patient care for both agencies, while also preparing them for shifts in the Medicaid program.

“This increase will address one of the primary Medicaid redesign goals of quickly getting people off of waiting lists and into treatment without additional investment in construction, or indeed, additional significant funding,” Ross said.

Other benefits include sharing information technology, best practices in human resources, strategic planning, and the ability to leverage more competitive pricing with vendors, Ross said.

“The synergies of this collaboration are many, and include service integration, strengthened marketing, an enhanced professional staff, and the many additional components of a dynamic treatment delivery model,” Tina Buckley, Rose Hill’s program director said in the release. “Importantly, we will also now be able to accept referrals from St. Joseph’s, while sending clients to St. Joseph’s for the appropriate level of care.”

The St. Joseph’s-Rose Hill collaboration, approved this summer, will create a combined staff of over 200 employees: 160 at St. Joseph’s and 40 at Rose Hill. The two organizations have a combined $13.5 million annual operating budget.