KENNEWICK, Wash. – The Benton County Recovery Coalition showed off the plan and progress for the Columbia Valley Center for Recovery to officials and state legislature representatives
It has been almost a decade since the former Kennewick General Hospital has operated at full capacity.
For the last 6 years, the Benton Franklin Recovery Coalition worked with both counties, trying to show recovery can work.
For now, the building sits empty, stripped of ceiling panels and windows covered with most rooms currently left bare.
The nearest recovery center in Wenatchee – more than two hours away
“You have a very small window to get people into treatment and if you aren’t able to provide care within that window of willingness, it elapses. And you may never get another chance,” said Lauren Davis a member of the State House of Representatives for the 32nd district.
Representative Davis said not every community has been as willing to see something like this center but it’s been different here.
“They are our neighbors. Are your children. I just think it’s really remarkable,” Rep. Davis said. “You should be commended as a story of welcoming and this arc of hope that that, in fact, this population is wholly capable of redemption and recovery.”
Deputy County Administrator Matt Rasmussen said there have been some concerns about the center and who would be treated there.
“So far, it’s been mostly positive. You know, we’ve heard a few concerns about, you know, the type of clientele that would be from here,” Rasmussen said. “I think those are easily assuaged. You know, people aren’t coming here and then just being released back into the community there. They’re being brought here. They’re being treated. They’re being provided with a plan.”
Rasmussen said as the project gets underway, the county continues to look at other services to fill the space as potential resources for the community.
For now, he said crisis stabilization, secure detox and residential patient treatment will be the main focus of the facility when it’s planned to open in December of 2025.
“They have a disease that’s largely treatable. And so I want people to understand that that’s what we’re trying to do here, is help those people get the help they need,” Rasmussen said. “they get out of that and we’re improving public safety, we’re saving families. We’re saving lives.”
