By Brad Pedersen
Triblive
SCHLOCTA, Pa. — A program aimed at keeping inmates booked on drug-and-alcohol offenses from becoming repeat offenders has earned Armstrong and two other counties recognition.
The Armstrong, Indiana and Clarion Drug and Alcohol Commission received the County Behavioral Health Collaboration Award as recognition for offering rehabilitation programming for inmates. The award is given by the County Commissioners Association of Pennsylvania’s County Managed Care Resource.
Kami Anderson, executive director of the Shelocta, Indiana County-based commission, said the program began last December when officials at the state Department of Drug and Alcohol Programs requested the organization start the Medical Assistance Jail Pilot Program in Armstrong, Clarion and Indiana counties.
“In the program, probation identifies an inmate they think needs residential drug-and-alcohol care, and we send a case manager to assess the inmate,” Anderson said. “If they needed residential care, we sent a certified recovery specialist into the jail to sit with the inmate and apply for medical assistance.”
Specialists sent the inmates’ requests to the county to be reviewed, and, if an inmate was eligible for residential drug-and-alcohol care, they were enrolled in a treatment center the day of their release, Anderson said.
The HealthChoices Program, through the state Department of Public Welfare, covered the cost of the inmates’ rehabilitation services, not the individual counties, Anderson added.
By enrolling inmates in the HealthChoices Program, Anderson said the three counties saved more than $200,000 in rehabilitation costs.
“Everyone was so willing to come together and work together,” Anderson said.
Full story: Multi-county rehab program recognized for inmate success