Patricia House set to reopen much bigger, better
Published:Sunday | October 23, 2022 | 12:10 AMChristopher Serju - Senior Gleaner Writer
Patricia House, the drug rehabilitation centre that was based in St Andrew, is set to reopen under much-improved conditions in a larger setting in Linstead, St Catherine, by year-end, according Executive Director of the National Council on Drug Abuse (NCDA), Michael Tucker.
“In another month or two, we will be up and running again, but it’s for the greater good because what the people will get is a much-improved facility, more staff, more capability for handling more people, more therapeutic areas, better layout. Better everything, and all the medical and other personnel that you need will be there,” Tucker told The Sunday Gleaner.
“We’re looking at setting up one of the best treatment and rehabilitation facilities in Jamaica, if not in the Caribbean. We should be able to accommodate a minimum of 40 people in-house with more staff so that we can handle more clients. So we will have all the mental health people on board because psychiatrists will be rotated, and we will have a doctor visiting regularly to make sure everything is okay. All those things that are necessary to ensure that the clients get the best possible treatment and the best possible chance of full recovery will be in place.”
In 1988, the Government of Jamaica, in partnership with Richmond Fellowship International and the European Union, established the 24-bed drug rehabilitation residential facility for Jamaican nationals or non-nationals who lived in the country for more than five years. The doors to Richmond Fellowship Jamaica (popularly known as Patricia House) at 6 Upper Musgrave Avenue, St Andrew were opened on April 17, 1991.
By the time the drug rehab centre closed its doors in the middle of last year, the facility was in serious need of rehabilitation, and it was also falling victim to the impact of the ongoing upscale development happening all around it.
In addition to the constant construction-generated noise, increased traffic flow was also wreaking havoc on what was once a healing environment, a price Patricia House was paying for its coveted place in the Golden Triangle.
“The peace, quiet, and tranquility that a lot of the clients needed wasn’t there anymore. So we found a suitable space with much more land space. It really and truly has more space for a lot of therapeutic work that we have to do, to accommodate more people, and it’s much quieter,” Tucker explained.
SOCIAL MEDIA EMPHASIS
The infrastructure is being installed at the Linstead location to facilitate strong Internet service and accommodate multiple phone lines, which is part of a deliberate strategy, according to the executive director, since there will be heavy emphasis on the use of social media to connect with potential clients, which will also add to its service delivery capability.
“We are going to use social media as well as traditional media, WhatsApp, and everything else, and we are going to have a website that will be established by next month. All of those things will be in place so people can send in queries, or phone in and have a discussion with the people that are in the system, and so we can do the necessary screening to ensure that they are suitable for Patricia House, and then we can get admission done,” Tucker said.