ONTARIO—As addiction and fentanyl overdoses continue to surge in Malheur County, a local drug rehabilitation clinic received support from the city of Ontario to pursue federal grant money to hire more staff.
Altruistic Recovery, at 1052 N.W. Fourth Ave. in Ontario, applied for up to $100,000 in grant funding from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Department’s Health Resources and Services Administration.
Annette Volk, one of the clinic’s five owners and a mental health provider, said the clinic, which opened in 2021, provides mental health services, substance abuse treatment and treatment for those charged with driving under the influence of an intoxicant. Additionally, the clinic provides medication-assisted treatment and domestic violence treatment.
Volk said the grant money would allow Altruistic Recovery to bring on a peer counselor, hire more clinicians and expand the clinic’s services.
She said half of the funds would go to substance abuse treatment. Additionally, she said, another part would go toward outreach in the community. She said funds would also go to addressing the families of those who struggle with addiction.
Volk said she would like to bring on a child therapist and at least two more mental health therapists.
Volk said the need to expand services within the community speaks to how the problem of addiction is worsening.
She said she currently has a full caseload, as do the other providers in the office.
Volk added that hiring clinicians costs money. Most providers, she said, come from Idaho.
Volk said the application for the HRSA grant was filed before the Jan. 19. deadline. She said they would not find out whether they would receive the grant until around September or October.
Additionally, Volk said problems faced in Malheur County also stretch across the state and country.
“I don’t think (Malheur County) is unique in that,” she said. “I think we’re unique in that funding doesn’t always come to this side of the state.”
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