Camden’s biggest methadone clinic to close

State officials are scrambling to provide treatment for hundreds of South Jersey heroin addicts who rely on methadone to control their addictions after Camden's primary methadone provider announced it will close.

The nonprofit Parkside Recovery, which runs a bustling downtown clinic and was slated to move to a newly renovated facility at the South Jersey Port, cited financial problems. The state, which funds the facility, said it had "operational concerns" about Parkside.

The announcement this week surprised the facility's nearly 40 employees and 550 clients, and it raises questions about the fate of a $1.9 million state-funded plan to build a clinic for Parkside at the port. The plan was widely controversial and mired in a lawsuit.

Although a Parkside official said the clinic won't close until all patients are placed elsewhere, patients who have come to rely on methadone are concerned.

They said that Camden better brace itself if hundreds of addicts don't have access to methadone, known on the street as "liquid handcuffs," and a similar, lesser-used medicine call suboxone.

Michael J. Liuzza, 30, of Blackwood, who ingests methadone six days a week and has been clean for more than a year, said in an interview outside the clinic today that if a new facility doesn't open, "you'd have a lot more [stuff] to write about."

Without methadone, addicts said, some will be lured back to heroin, further fueling the drug trade in Camden.

If he skips a day of methadone, Liuzza said, he gets anxiety, cold sweats and back pain.

"We will not leave until everybody is safely placed at an alternative clinic location with another provider," said Michael Barton, executive vice president of NHS Human Services of Lafayette Hill, Pa., the parent nonprofit that runs Parkside.

He said he believes that other nearby facilities - including one on 5th Street in Camden, and another in Pennsauken - can handle the overload.

NHS provides a variety of human services in seven states, and the nonprofit signed a 15-month contract with New Jersey earlier this year to provide methadone services for $693,566, according to state.

"It is becoming increasingly difficult over the past two years to continue to provide services there without creating really substantial financial losses," Barton said. "It's primarily a financial matter."

He declined to say whether NHS asked for more money from New Jersey.

The state Department of Human Services, which contracts out to NHS, had a different explanation.

"They notified us they are no longer able to provide services in accordance with our standards," spokeswoman Ellen Lovejoy said. "We expressed concerns about the operations and they said they don't want to continue."

Lovejoy said the state was working with Parkside to "support uninterrupted service for our clients." She did not guarantee that services would go uninterrupted, but said a new contractor could be hired.

More details about Parkside's departure were in a letter given to patients at Parkside today. It cited "underfunding," "staffing shortages," an "overcrowded situation," and "protracted delays in obtaining a new site."

In a highly controversial decision earlier this year, the state-run South Jersey Port Corp. approved a plan to retrofit a building at their waterfront facility to make room for a new, expanded Parkside Recovery. The state was to pick up the $1.9 million tab, although that money has yet to be spent, Lovejoy said.

The facility was being forced from its Broadway building because Cooper University Hospital is expanding and planning a medical school in conjunction with Rowan University.

Now, that port plan appears to be dead, or at least on hold until an agreement can be sealed with another contractor. Port executives did not return calls for comment.

The community group Heart Of Camden, concerned that hundreds of addicts would be coming into a neighborhood trying to revitalize itself, has a pending lawsuit contending the highly-secured port is an inappropriate location for hundreds of drug addicts.

Through its law firm, Kirkland & Ellis, Heart of Camden released a statement: "The Heart Of Camden fully supports substance abuse treatment programs but believes that the lease of Port facilities to Parkside Recovery, Inc. for this purpose is unlawful."

Other community members fear what could happen if the addicts, many of whom don't live in Camden, are left without a place to get methadone.

"It's going to be a major problem," said Oscar Hernandez of My Brother's Keeper, which houses drug addicts. "What are you going to do with all these sick addicts? How are you going to get them treated? That's a big question. You have a major crisis on your hands if that's to happen."

Parkside will continue to operate a recently opened mobile methadone clinic that serves about 150 people at three Camden locations. That clinic has also come under fire from community leaders who say Camden has too many methadone treatment facilities.

It was a hectic scene inside Parkside's waiting room today, as several patients, some with children in tow, tried to get answers about their treatment from one employee behind the front desk.

"They're kicking people out that are prescribed real medicine," said Liuzza, adding that he complements his treatment by visiting a psychiatrist in Cherry Hill. "People can die. What the hell is going to happen?"

Liuzza said he has been told he can transfer to another facility in Camden, but he and others said they were concerned that it won't be open on Sundays and holidays, like at Parkside. Last Thanksgiving, Parkside had lines around the corner, Liuzza said.

"Not everybody needs [methadone], but everybody goes back on [heroin] if they don't have it," said Kim Sibley, 36, who carpools with Liuzza from Blackwood for methadone treatment. "It's like heroin - you still have to come to Camden to get it."