From left, Great Lakes Recovery Centers CEO Greg Toutant, Sen. Debbie Stabenow, GLRC Capital Campaign Officer Karen Sprague and GLRC Deputy Director Molly Studinger stand together in the entrace of the future John Kivela Center on Tuesday. Stabenow went on a tour with GLRC staff to learn more about the future of the center. (Journal photo by Dreyma Beronja)

NEGAUNEE — Sen. Debbie Stabenow, D-Lansing, visited the future regional behavioral health campus to see current construction and discuss funding on Tuesday.

Stabenow said the Great Lakes Recovery Centers is doing “wonderful work” for the community.

“I’m working hard to support them and to be able to do even more,” Stabenow said. “It’s a really important vision, allowing women to have their children here. Sometimes you can’t get help because you can’t afford child care and to be able to reach out and ask for help, (it’s) so very important.”

She said the John Kivela Center is about comprehensive care for people.

“It’s about serving people, whether they have insurance or not, and allowing folks to walk in the door,” Stabenow said. “That’s what my efforts have been about with community behavioral health clinics to say that regardless of what’s happening to you, you can walk in the door and ask for help and actually get help.”

According to the GLRC’s website, the former Teal Lake Medical Clinic was transitioned to the GLRC with the goal of “strengthening community-based recovery and behavioral health care.” The facility was renamed the John Kivela Center in memory of former state Rep. John Kivela who passed away in 2017.

The facility will be the new home for the GLRC’s women’s residential treatment program, including social detox, a recovery house allowing women to continue their life of sobriety after residential treatment and more, according to the GLRC’s website.

For residential occupancy, GLRC CEO Greg Toutant said the center could have anywhere from 16-18 beds available for inpatient care, 10 beds for transitional housing and a lot of capacity for expanded outpatient care.

“This campus model will allow clients to benefit from increased integrated care opportunities as services will be accessed in one location,” GLRC said on its website.

Toutant said GLRC was “very grateful” to have Stabenow tour their Teal Lake Renovation Project for behavioral health and involved with a larger community discussion around expanded behavioral health access.

“It’s really critical for nonprofit entities like ours and so many in our community to get a chance to partner with some of our more prominent representatives, legislators and certainly senators,” Toutant said. “It’s an amazing commitment on her part to come and visit us today.”

During her tour of the facility, Stabenow said she was in contact with people in charge in Washington, D.C., on possible funding opportunities through Certified Community Behavioral Health Clinics.

“We’ll be doubling back because GLRC is in line to get a really important grant to allow them to expand community behavioral health clinics and the comprehensive care that we all want for people in Marquette County and across the U.P.,” Stabenow said. “I’m just going to keep pushing until that happens, the next area of awards will be in the fall and we’ll see how that goes and if for some reason that doesn’t happen, we’re going to keep pushing for the next one.”

Stabenow said the GLRC could receive a grant in the range of $4 million over four years through Certified Community Behavioral Health Clinics.

“It is a start-up grant to get everything in place to then take the next step, which is to be certified for full Medicaid insurance,” Stabenow said. “That’s the point at which the program is completely funded as health care and that’s the goal.”

Toutant said funding from grants such as the Certified Community Behavioral Health Clinics is “vital.”

“It comes alongside of traditional fee for services models in that it fills in the gap of funding for services that we could provide that doesn’t have dedicated funding stream,” Toutant said. “It’s pivotal and allows for a lot of transformation for community services so that we can better serve all those that present for care.”

While the center is still under construction, Toutant said there will be an open house and ribbon cutting event from 3-5 p.m. Aug. 31 for the public to take a tour. He said GLRC anticipates an occupancy permit in September.

“There’s just wonderful things happening here and Great Lakes Recovery Center(s) is really leading the way,” Stabenow said.

For more information on the John Kivela Center, visit glrcfoundation.org/john-kivela-center.

Dreyma Beronja can be reached at 906-228-2500 ext. 548. Their email address is dberonj@miningjournal.net.