SOUDAN- Over two dozen Soudan residents attended a question-and-answer session with Cathy Cerra-Harvieux, who is hoping to convert the Vermilion Park Inn to a sober housing and outpatient treatment center for adult men. The facility, originally built as the Soudan Hospital, has operated as a bed and breakfast for more than seven years, but has gone through a number of changes in use over the years.
Cerra-Harvieux, who is executive director of Care Crossings, said she plans to start with 10 clients, and then expand to 15, with an eventual maximum of 20. The facility would have three staff, including a nurse-practitioner, plus Cerra-Harvieux, living on site. Cerra-Harvieux said she has worked in the treatment field for 40 years and has similar facilities elsewhere in the state.
If approved, the sober house would provide transitional housing for clients, while working with them to find stable employment, and then moving them into more permanent housing situations closer to wherever they find a job. While sober housing is not regulated by the state, this facility would be run more like a residential treatment facility, she said, and estimated the average stay for a client would be around three months. Clients living at the house have 30 days to find employment. Care Crossings provides transportation to and from work for their clients.
The project, according to county officials, would require a conditional use permit and Cerra-Harvieux said she is working with an attorney on the CUP process, although she has not yet submitted an application. She had previously said she thought the project would not require a CUP because the building had previously operated as a group home for developmentally disabled adults. The project will also require licensure as a non-residential treatment facility, she said. The sober housing portion of the project would receive funding that is used for transitional housing but does not require state licensing.
Cerra-Harvieux continued to face pushback, however, this time over a recent report from the Minnesota Department of Human Services that found a facility she owns in Oak Park Heights was in violation of 15 of the substance use disorder treatment rules and statutes.
Trisha Poderzay brought the report, dated June 6, 2023, in which the DHS outlined violations that included: issues with policies and procedures not meeting state requirements; lack of documentation that staff reviewed clients’ rights and responsibilities on the day of service initiation in four of five files reviewed; lack of consent for disclosure of suspected maltreatment for vulnerable adults; initial service plans for four of five client files reviewed were not person-centered, and the files did not identify treatment needs. In addition, the report found that intake assessments were not signed by a qualified staff member in two of five cases and intake assessments lacking numerous other required information including details of past drug use, information on time of abstinence from drug use, and any circumstances surrounding relapse. Nor did assessments include information about mental health screenings in three of five files reviewed while individual treatment plans in four of five files reviewed did not meet state requirements including any documentation that the client was involved in the development of the plan; and multiple other violations and issues.
The status of the complaint remains unclear. When asked by the Timberjay whether the issues raised by the DHS had been resolved, Cerra-Harvieux did not respond directly to the question in an email response to the paper.
In response to questioning on the DHS report, Cerra-Harvieux cut off Poderzay before she could finish her questions. Cerra-Harvieux explained that she had been cited for not doing background studies on employees, and this was due to lack of this service during the pandemic, and that they had been completed as soon as the background studies were again made available. This was actually a separate order, and Care Crossings was fined $1,200 for the background study violations.
Cerra-Harvieux did not address any of the other issues in the other DHS correction order report.
Many at the meeting continued to question why she wanted to locate the facility in Soudan.
“We know it is difficult to treat opioid addiction in a rural area,” Cerra-Harvieux said, who noted there are not any similar treatment options in the wider area.
When asked about what pros and cons there were for placing this facility in Soudan, Cerra-Harvieux said there weren’t any cons.
“The pros are the environment. This is not a city. There are things that are not accessible.”
But others wondered if the sober house would bring trouble into Soudan.
“In my experience,” said Victoria Carlson, a business owner in Tower with law enforcement experience, “some of the best places to score are by sober houses.”
Jessica Lenci, whose house is next door to the Vermilion Park Inn property said she had a young couple interesting in buying their property, who said they were no longer interested.
“The effects have started,” Lenci said. “It’s going to affect this little community. We won’t be getting young couples moving in. I understand that people need help, but this isn’t the place for it.”
She also noted she was not comfortable with the idea of 20 men living next door. Another neighbor predicted how she’d respond if one of the sober house residents knocked on her door. “I’d be locked and loaded,” she said.
Cerra-Harvieux talked about the structured days for those living in the sober house. Those new to the program are not allowed outside unsupervised. As they move through the treatment process, they are allowed to check out for short periods of time to take walks. Days include group therapy sessions, mental health therapy, meals and cleanup, and attendance at meetings like AA. Residents cook and cleanup for themselves.
Care Crossings would have trained staff on-site at all times, and mental health providers, counselors and a psychiatrist would be either working with clients onsite or through an online system. Client checks are done on a 15-minute schedule to make sure no one is missing. If a client is suspected of using drugs or alcohol, there would be an immediate drug test, Cerra-Harvieux said.
Still, some of those in attendedance seemed to acknowledge the need for such a facility and why it might be located in Soudan.
Sandy Wallin, who works as a social worker, said she had a friend who lived next door to a 12-step house that opened up in Virginia.
“At first she was really concerned,” Wallin said, “but within a year they were mowing her lawn for her.”
That seemed to entice one elderly neighbor, who wondered if the residents could perhaps help her and husband with some of their chores.
MaryBeth Reller cited their basic humanity. “These are human beings,” she said.
Dave Archambault, who is the Director of Substance Use Disorder Service for Range Mental Health, was at the meeting and was able to address some concerns over client behaviors.
“I would imagine most of the people coming in would have gone through a 30-day in-patient program, and they probably would have been living in this area.”
Archambault noted there is a drug problem in our community already. He oversees the detox program in Virginia.
“I get it,” he said. “But the chances of these issues happening here are not great.”
He said that at least 70-percent of the clients in such a home want to be there. He also said, in his experience, when someone leaves such a facility when they are not supposed to, they are having a friend or relative drive them back to where they used to live.
Many of those living in the sober house would be under court order, and if they don’t cooperate with the program, they could be sent to jail.
Soudan resident Patti Banks, who serves as CEO of the Ely-Bloomenson Community Hospital said it is important to have these conversations.
“If we don’t air these fears, we are never going to work these things out,” she said.
She noted that hospitals can’t provide the long-term care and treatment that is needed for addiction.
“We need this kind of tiered support,” she said. “These people need somewhere to go.”