Bob Ross, CEO of St. Joseph’s Addiction Treatment and Recovery Centers, smiles in September in the organization’s headquarters in Saranac Lake. (Enterprise photo — Glynis Hart)

SARANAC LAKE — St. Joseph’s Addiction and Recovery Center’s plans to open a 24-hour intake and intervention center on John Munn Road and got a big boost from the state Tuesday, as Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s office announced $4 million in grants to establish “Open Access Centers” throughout the state.

St. Joseph’s will receive $450,000.

“We applied for it, and we were hoping for it,” said Bob Ross, St. Joe’s director. “This is the first of three pieces to come through; we have two other pieces we are waiting for funding for.”

The local addiction recovery center, which opened 47 years ago, has gone from treating mostly alcoholics to treating mostly heroin and opiate addicts. Ross said the opioid addiction epidemic, which now kills more than 65,000 people each year, is getting worse.

“Ninety-seven percent of our inpatient admissions in 2017 had a diagnosis of heroin addiction or opiate addiction,” said Ross.

“In the last two years we’ve seen a 107 percent increase in referrals to our outpatient facility for [opioid addiction].”

The concept behind the Open Access Centers focuses on the windows of opportunity to get people into treatment. People addicted to heroin or prescription opioids live on a roller-coaster ride of highs and lows: lows when their bodies are craving the drugs that include vomiting, sweating, chills, suicidal thoughts, muscle cramps and stomach pain; and highs that, as their bodies’ drug tolerance increases, become less about feeling good and more about not getting sick. Addicts often form a resolve to quit, but then lose that resolve once withdrawal sets in. Relapse rates for opiate addiction are as high as 91 percent.

“The design of the Open Access Center is that an individual can come in any day of the week, where somebody is on call 24/7. It doesn’t close at 5 p.m., and it doesn’t close on Friday,” said Ross.

Plans for the new center include a ten-bed inpatient detox facility, expanded outpatient clinic and round-the-clock assessment center, where people can get immediate access to assessment and referral.

Ross said putting all three services together is more cost-effective than separate facilities. “You already have most of the staffing you need. One facility can be done with fewer staff than if they were all separate.

“We developed that model, and I think [the state] was receptive to it. If somebody comes in for assessment and needs detox, we’re already there.”

St. Joe’s new facility may provide a model for other new facilities across the state, said Ross.

He explained that the way the state is funding this initiative, it’s trying to make sure there’s an Open Access Center in each of 10 regions, covering the entire state.

“These new centers will make a significant impact in communities around our state by ensuring that anyone who needs services or interventions will be able to receive help right away, no matter the time or day of the week,” state Office of Alcoholism and Substance Abuse Services Commissioner Arlene Gonzalez-Sanchez said in a press release. “They also provide the necessary responsive, compassionate assistance and support needed to help New Yorkers successfully start their recovery journeys.”

“It’s a very progressive thing for New York to do,” said Ross. The center will serve people from Essex, Franklin, Clinton and St. Lawrence counties, although “that doesn’t mean people from other counties can’t come in.”

The next nearest detox facilities to which people are likely to get access are in Syracuse and Albany because the services at the Canton-Potsdam hospital are almost always full.