In the wake of spiking drug overdose deaths, Gateway Rehab is expanding its Westmoreland County presence, adding 19 beds to a 16-bed unit at Excela Frick Hospital in Mt. Pleasant, increasing the detox capacity to 14 beds and rehab beds to 21.
“Westmoreland County has been especially hard hit by the current opioid epidemic and lacked adult inpatient facilities,” President and CEO Paul Bacharach said in a prepared statement.
The expansion was made possible by a $400,000 grant from the Westmoreland Drug and Alcohol Commission through the state Department of Human Services. Gateway will continue to operate centers at Outlet Way and Donohoe Road in Greensburg.
Separately, Gateway is moving its South Hills outpatient office to Whitehall from Pleasant Hills. The new office, which will open in March, will be located at Streets Run Road at Route 51.
Gateway opened a 16-bed detox and rehabilitation unit at Frick in 2016. The Drug Enforcement Agency reported 4,643 overdose deaths in Pennsylvania in 2016, a 37 percent increase from 2015.
Gateway Rehab is a private, nonprofit organization that serves nearly 1,700 adults and youths daily at locations in Western Pennsylvania and Ohio. Gateway, which has corporate offices in Moon, also operates a 194-bed facility at its main residential treatment facility in Beaver County.
Kris B. Mamula: kmamula@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1699
First Published: January 17, 2018, 11:33 p.m.
