Women's rehab center opens

PHOTO BY JACOB GURNEY Surest Path Recovery Center of Bloomville opened Monday. BLOOMVILLE — A former nursing home that has been transformed into a women's rehabilitation center opened its doors Monday. Surest Path Recovery Center of Bloomville, 22 Clinton St., is located in the former Ruffing Family Care Center, which was owned by Diana Ruffing and closed in 2016. Ruffing is executive director of Surest Path. She said the 26-bed facility started accepting patients Monday and offers detox services and residential treatment. Detox services last from five to 10 days and the residential treatment phase can be for 30, 60 or 90 days. Ruffing said she was approached by Kathy Hunt, owner of Surest Path Recovery Center and Elmwood Communities, about getting into addiction services. "So we put our heads together and did a lot of research on it and what it is we needed to do. How could we provide services. And after all our research we found, 'Yes, we can do this,'" Ruffing said. She said there aren't many residential treatment facilities in Ohio and fewer services are available in rural Ohio. "We have very good outpatient services in our area through Firelands, Oriana House and the CROSSWAEH program, but there's nothing for someone who needs a residential treatment," she said. Ruffing said some addicts struggle in outpatient care because they're still involved in their world, which might include other users and a using environment. "They come into a residential treatment program and all that is filtered out so they can concentrate on themselves, what their addiction is, what's triggered their addiction and life skills so they don't have to resort to drugs or alcohol," she said. "We offer individual therapy, group therapy and we are providing life skills training and are providing them with education," she added. "Everything that they need to be able to cope to live in the real world like anyone else." Ruffing said the residential component makes the program long and slow, but it's made that way so patients can learn to cope. For patients to be successful, they have to have a lifestyle change, she said. "There's a higher rate for success of staying sober if you participate in a residential treatment because you've shut down all the outside factors," she said. "Through the course of their treatment here, they'll start being introduced to the outside world again and we will provide therapy to families. We will take them out in the community and get them to interact with the community again and help them find a job, a school, a place to live. We'll help with any of those stressers that may be out there." The building has undergone more than $500,000 in renovations, Ruffing said. That includes a couple large community rooms that are to be used for group programming as well as visitation and family education spaces. Exercise equipment is expected soon and a network of Alcoholics Anonymous women's groups have told her they want to meet there. "They're very on board with being involved," Ruffing said. Ruffing said the center is for addicts, but also for their support systems. "Whether that be their family, a boyfriend or friends, they need to be educated as well," she said. Surest Path has 24-hour security monitored inside and outside and is staffed around the clock. It employs 15 people, including nurses, recreational therapists and certified peer counselors. "We really have a good team pulled together here," Ruffing said. Ruffing said a program through the state allows former addicts who have been clean for two years to become certified peer counselor. "They're worth their weight in gold," she said. "When you're dealing with an addict who's trying to recover, they've been in their shoes. They can relate to them. They also can inspire them." Ruffing said Surest Path has worked closely with Mental Health and Recovery Services Board of Seneca, Sandusky and Wyandot Counties Executive Director Mircea Handru; Michelle Clinger of Firelands Counseling and Recovery Services; Jason Varney of Oriana House; and with other local agencies and community leaders to assure continuity of care. "I've been working real closely with (Tiffin-Fostoria Municipal Court Judge Mark) Repp as an alternative treatment to jail," she said. The facility is licensed by the Ohio Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services and is Medicaid-certified, Ruffing said. "We're going to be in a position to help anybody, no matter what their resources are," she said. Handru said the community will benefit from having a local recovery center. "I think it will help with the current opiate epidemic and it is a service that was really needed," he said. "I hope people will take advantage of it." Ruffing said they decided to open a women's facility because there was are fewer area resources for women. A men's facility, Surest Path Recovery Center of Fremont, is set to open in the next few months at the former Valley View Nursing Home, 825 June St., Fremont.