New Mexico Department of Health, Bernalillo County Announce Plans to Expand Drug and Alcohol Treatment Resources

Category: Non-Local News Releases Non-Local News Releases
Published: 24 September 2018 24 September 2018

SANTA FE, NM – Today, the New Mexico Department of Health (NMDOH) announced plans to relocate Turquoise Lodge Hospital (TLH) to the former Gibson Medical Center located at 5400 Gibson Blvd SE, Albuquerque, to expand their services. The move will also enable Bernalillo County to expand behavioral health services utilizing the space left vacant by the transition. The relocation will help align both state and county resources to better address the behavioral health and substance misuse treatment needs in New Mexico. The move will take place in December 2018.

Moving TLH enables both government entities to expand their current substance misuse treatment services in New Mexico, resulting in increased resources to New Mexicans. TLH is expanding outpatient substance misuse treatment programming, so their customers can continue their path of recovery in their respective community after accessing inpatient services. The NMDOH and Bernalillo County will continue their strong partnership in providing services to those in need of social detox services at the current Zuni location. Transition plans are in place to ensure there will be no interruption in services during the move. 

“This move allows both the state and county to continue to collaborate in addressing current gaps in substance misuse treatment and care,” said Shauna Hartley, Turquoise Lodge Hospital Administrator. “It really enables us to improve the continuum of care for those struggling with drug and alcohol addiction."

Turquoise Lodge Hospital serves as the hub for NMDOH’s drug and alcohol treatment services in the northern region of the state, along with the New Mexico Rehabilitation Center (NMRC) in Roswell, which serves southern New Mexico. NMRC and Turquoise Lodge offer inpatient and outpatient drug and alcohol misuse services including: inpatient medical detoxification, social rehabilitation, and Intensive Outpatient Program (IOP) services. TLH will be celebrating their 66th anniversary of serving New Mexicans in September and has occupied its current space since 2007, servicing more than 1,300 patients annually in their various programs.

“We have a high demand for supportive services on our Metropolitan Assessment Treatment Services (MATS) campus, expanding this partnership to two locations allows us at Bernalillo County as well as partners at Turquoise Lodge to increase our offerings to the community and the capacity of each of our organizations,” said Bernalillo County Director of Behavioral Health Services, Katrina Hotrum. “We’ll be working closely with the state to provide a smooth transition for each client, so that they will not even notice a difference in the continuity of care.” 

Bernalillo County plans to utilize the additional space to expand services already offered on the MATS campus and incorporate additional Behavioral Health resources.

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