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Treatment options dwindling for families hit by 'hidden scourge'

Editor's note: This story originally ran on Jan. 16, 2003 as part of the Daily Herald's "Hidden Scourge: Heroin in the Suburbs" series.

Despite a rise in the numbers of drug-addicted teens and young adults in the Northwest and West suburbs, the number of treatment facilities available to help them is shrinking.

A bad economy, insurance coverage restrictions and some parents' reluctance to admit they need often costly professional help with a child's problem all are factors driving the shrinking numbers of treatment centers, addictions experts said.

Hazelden Chicago shut down adolescent outpatient recovery facilities in Lombard and Deerfield in last August citing economic factors. Hazelden still conducts evaluations of teens 14 and older at its downtown Chicago facility and refers clients to its Center for Youth and Families in Plymouth, Minn.

But Peter Palanca, regional vice president of Hazelden Chicago, said in a statement about the suburban closings last summer, "It is difficult to offer programs that meet the needs of today's youth and families solely on an outpatient basis.

"The parameters of our current managed care environment, as well as changes in the economy, dictated a consolidation of services."

Suzanne Walker, adolescent program director at Rush Behavioral Health/Lake Forest Hospital, said the numbers of intensive outpatient facilities has declined in the decade she's worked in the field.

Two of the three facilities that have employed Walker over the past 10 years no longer exist. Providers in Mundelein and Des Plaines have closed shop in that time period, she said.

"There are places that provide lower-level services in the area," she said. "There's not much intensive outpatient. Insurance isn't covering as much, and people aren't willing to pay as much."

Even non-profit providers have to break even and many parents still are reluctant to seek help for their addicted children initially, she said.

The suburbs need more residential facilities, Walker said. Currently, the main, non-hospital-based residential addiction treatment providers are Cornell Interventions facilities in Woodridge and Wauconda and Rosecrance in Rockford.

"We don't have anything around here. We need more beds," Walker said. "There are waiting lists."

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