McCracken County leaders at a ground-breaking ceremony on Tuesday advocated for the potential of a planned 16-bed women’s addiction treatment center in Paducah.
The planned 700,000 square-foot facility will be run by east Kentucky-based Mountain Comprehensive Care Center (MCCC) and is funded through a loan by the U.S. Department of Agriculture Office of Rural Development.
The center will be located next to the Merryman House Domestic Crisis Center, which services domestic abuse victims in the Purchase region. Merryman House Executive Director Mary Foley said the new center’s location is intended to help expand the services of both nonprofits through collaboration.
“How can we literally work together? How can we live where you live, and you live where we live? How can we engage partners that we’ve never worked with before like (USDA) Rural Development,” Foley said. “I feel like this partnership allows us to give us two very needed services -- substance abuse treatment and victim services treatment.”
Foley said, for example, if an individual came to the Merryman House also needing treatment for substance abuse, their nonprofit could make a referral to the new MCCC facility next door, and vice versa if a patient at the MCCC facility needs domestic abuse trauma treatment.
“I would foresee [this facility] being something available for the court or the Merryman House,” said McCracken County Sheriff Matt Carter. “The Mountain Comprehensive Care Center is just going to be one additional tool to provide treatment outlets for persons who have addictions to various substances.”
The $1.2 million facility is expected to bring in 20-25 jobs to McCracken County, with the construction of the new facility finishing in April.