Middle Smithfield residents wary of treatment center

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Chris McDermott, an engineer from Riley Associates in Stroudsburg speaks to the crowd using this plan of the proposed drug treatment facility at the former Hillside Inn location at the Middle Smithfield Township municipal building during their meeting on Tuesday night, March 27, 2012.Melissa Evanko/Pocono Record

March 28, 2012

Some residents expressed fears Tuesday night about neighborhood security if a proposed voluntary drug and alcohol treatment program opens at the Hillside Inn resort property.

Others said a drug treatment facility such as that proposed by Pyramid Healthcare is badly needed. Pyramid, based in Altoona, proposes a 60-bed facility at Hillside, off Frutchey Road. The facility might eventually expand to 110 beds.

Assurances by Jason Hendricks, Pyramid's vice president of operations, that nearly all patients are driven to and from the facility and must give 48-hours notice before signing themselves out, drew skepticism.

"A lot of them end up having to go back into treatment again and again and again," Paul Giblin of Prairie Lane said. "If patients walk away, towards nearby Route 209, they will likely say, 'Gee, what can I get over there? I'm looking for drugs.'"

Patricia Griffin of Turkey Ridge Road said there is nothing to prevent patients from driving their own vehicles to the facility, despite a Pyramid policy of driving patients to the program.

"Ninety-nine percent of patients who leave against medical advice, we drive them home," Hendricks said.

No patient at Pyramid's central Pennsylvania treatment program has ever committed a crime while there, he added.

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Middle Smithfield residents wary of treatment center