Farmington facility sees many repeat clients detox

FARMINGTON, N.M. (AP) – Staff at Four Winds Recovery Center gathered at a back window recently as a Farmington police officer escorted a client into the detoxification unit.
Within seconds, the staff recognized the man as one of approximately 85 percent of all clients who endure the 72-hour detoxification process over and over again.
“Some of them are on their third or fourth files,” Treatment Supervisor Jolene Schneider said of clients. “Some have been here hundreds of times. Others are children or grandchildren of clients we had years ago.”
The nonprofit treatment center, funded jointly by the cities of Farmington, Bloomfield and Aztec, the county and the state, accepts walk-in clients or those escorted by law enforcement officers.
Staff members see clients with blood-alcohol levels averaging about .2, Schneider said. The legal limit is .08. Clients with blood-alcohol levels as high as .7, however, also have sought treatment.
The center offers four levels of treatment: detoxification, residential treatment, intensive outpatient treatment and outpatient treatment. Treatment varies from the protective custody, minimum security detoxification unit to 90-minute-per-week counseling sessions for outpatient clients.
Residential clients go through four weeks of treatment.
Among all types of treatment, clients can receive up to seven months of services, Schneider said.
The most popular service, by way of head count, is the detoxification unit, which served nearly 3,200 clients last year.
“They'll come in one of three ways,” clinical supervisor Bob Hodgman said of intoxicated clients. “They'll be happy and bouncy, they'll be almost passed out or they'll be very angry.”
The staff is trained to work with any personality or reaction to alcohol. Staffers monitor clients during the detoxification process to ensure they have no additional medical concerns, Schneider said.
And, the staff withholds judgment. Chronic alcohol addiction can be coupled with all kinds of other health and life issues, Schneider said. Of those who go through detoxification, 70 percent are male and 85 percent have at least one child. Additionally, 90 percent are American Indian.
“There are different perceptions about this,” she said. “There certainly is a significant alcohol problem in Farmington, and for a lot of people who come here, this is the only place where they are treated with any human dignity.”
Yet the center, which opened in 1979 and treated nearly 3,750 clients between June 2009 and June 2010, still relies on outdated technology to conduct classes and track services.
The center has received a $7,832 Daniels Fund grant to be used for equipment, curriculum and materials. This is the second year the center received such a grant.
Last year, the center used about $6,000 to purchase a laptop and projector to replace an overhead projector and plastic transparencies still in use at the center.
This year, staff anticipate buying a DVD player and flat screen monitors to replace a broken VHS player, Schneider said. Other items on the wish list include a new fax machine, a digital database and updated curricula.
“Things were very primitive here,” Schneider said. “The funds are helping us get into the techno age.”
The center also is seeking funding from additional sources to allow it to accept more clients and offer more services.
And though the numbers are bleak, treatment is working, Schneider said. An estimated 26 of the center's “regular” detoxification clients during the last year still are sober.
“We're helping them change the way they think,” she said. “The reality is that it takes a long time to get someone that chronic to be ready to change. It's about changing your whole lifestyle.”