The Community Health Center celebrated the official opening of Peachtree Estates II with a ribbon cutting ceremony September 23. These six furnished units will be called “home” by single parents being reunited with their children during the substance abuse recovery process. Located at 4237 Wyoga Lake Road in Cuyahoga Falls, Peachtree Estates I (opened in 2001) and II will have the total capacity to serve 14 families, and will provide safe, sober and secure housing to these families as they reintegrate into society.

Ohio State Senator and keynote speaker for the event, Kimberly Zurz, commented on the importance of these units within our community, “Substance abuse is a lifestyle that devastates one’s entire life. Changing a patient’s mindset will not always keep them drug-free, but changing their environment by providing affordable housing and supportive services that help them break the chain of substance abuse will."

Patients who enter Peachtree Estates II must have a dual diagnosis, meaning they are recovering from a substance abuse addiction and mental illness. During their two year allotted stay, the entire family participates in the recovery process through prevention education programs, counseling, case management and life skills training to help them achieve the goals needed to live independently.

“In the coming year the Community Health Center will be providing 85,240 bed days per year to patients in our community,” said Ted Ziegler, CEO of the Community Health Center. “This number may sound like another statistic, but in reality it illustrates the number of possibilities and the number of promising futures available to the people who reside in our housing.”