FARMINGTON – Provider Services, a medical clinic for treatment for addiction, has opened a new location in downtown Farmington at 187 Main St. Provider Services made the announcement on their Facebook page on Thursday, Dec. 15.

The location is shared with County Seat Reality with Provider Services located upstairs.

Initially located in Skowhegan, Provider Services is expanding into Farmington to bring medically assisted treatment [MAT] closer to many of its clients.

“We actually have some clients in here that have transferred to [Farmington] because it’s closer to where they live,” said Rosemary, who is charge of the administrative side of Provider Services. “We do psych evaluation and treatment. We have an advanced practice psychiatric nurse practitioner.”

Rosemary, who chose not to disclose her full name, says that Provider Services in Skowhegan has been providing treatment to its clients for four years with a high rate of success, but allows their clientele to do it at their own pace.

“With the amount of clients we have, I would say we have probably a 90% success rate of people that stay on the road to sobriety,” Rosemary stated. “Because it’s one of those areas that some people just aren’t ready, so they might fall off the schedule for a minute. But you know, even though we contact them, they’ll say, ‘I’ll give you a call when I want to make another appointment’, and then we might see him in a couple of months, because they may be there, ready then. So sometimes it’s just getting them there.”

Drug addiction, specifically opioid addiction has not slowed down. In fact, due to factors such as the pandemic, overdoses statewide, both fatal and non-fatal, are higher than the rate for 2021, which set a record of 636 deaths from overdoses. This record was a 23% increase over the rates of 2020.

When asked why they chose to open a second location in Farmington, Rosemary said, “Farmington was chosen because it’s kind of between Skowhegan and Portland, [and we’re] trying to hopefully help out the Lewiston area, Portland area. Anybody that has that need.”

In the city of Portland alone, Portland Police Department reported in July fatal drug overdoses in the city have already surpassed the total for all last year.

There have been 3,962 overdoses in the state this year through the end of May, compared with 3,292 in 2021 during the same time. With the rise in opioid use, centers for treatment are critical to reduce these rates, and Provider Services is one of many that is trying to get more help to those who need it.

“We don’t want people to have to go on a waitlist,” Rosemary said. “If people are ready to get on the road to sobriety, it needs to be now, not in a week, because then they struggle within that week. That’s why we’re a very small practice, because we put our focus on our clients. We want to make sure that whoever wants the service and needs it right now can get in right now.”

Rosemary has spent many years working in the mental health and substance abuse fields and felt a need to have a practice specializing in addiction.

“We’re just seeing the massive need for the MAT service,” she said. “I don’t want to say [there is a] lack of providers, because it’s not a lack of providers, but providers could only see so many people. If you have a PCP, they may have five or ten clients of theirs that they see for MAT, but they’re a PCP. That can’t be their full focus. So, I said, ‘let’s do this and make it the focus so that that’s what we’re focusing on’, so we can do the best for the clients that have this need. There’s so much that goes into it, between understanding their psychological and physical needs to reviewing their confirmations that come back from the lab, sitting down and having conversations with them to find out where this is coming from. How can we help you? Do you need therapy? Do you want therapy? All of that kind of stuff we actually have time to spend with our people, as opposed to [PCP]. We have time to actually sit down and talk to our clients.”

If you or someone you know is struggling with addiction and wishes to get sober, Provider Services encourages people to call them at 207-399-4438. This number is applicable to both locations.