The Alcohol & Drug Council of Tompkins County announced last February that it had secured a site on North Triphammer Road that will be the first in Tompkins County to provide open access addiction treatment services, eventually including a 40-bed medically supervised detox and stabilization unit.  On hearing about the plan, some neighbors in the Village of Lansing approached the Village trustees with fears about the proximity of a detox facility to their homes.  But Alcohol & Drug Council officials say they have been and will continue to be transparent about their plans, and the fears neighbors have expressed may be based on stereotypes.

"I think there is a lot of mis-perception around what that looks like and what that is," says Executive Director Angela Sullivan. "Hollywood hasn't helped us in some ways.  How medically supervised withdrawal and stabilization work is that it is for people with mild to moderate diagnoses of addiction.  People who have serious diagnoses and other complicating medical factors still need hospital-based detox.  I think when people think detox, they thing that hospital-based detox model.  This is a community-based detox model.  That involves a shorter stay in the detox facility.  They receive counseling, connections to resources, and once they become stable they are counseled on employment, education, and other supports and alternative activities to those that they were doing when they came in."

Photo Courtesy Wells College
Aurora, NY - Wells College announced Rebecca Haag '74 will be the 2019 Commencement speaker. Haag's long-standing passion for social change and years of professional experience—from advocating for women's rights, to helping those living with HIV/AIDS, to her current efforts on issues of food security and poverty—are sure to bring inspiration to the class of 2019 and many guests in attendance.

Wells' Commencement ceremonies will take place at 10 a.m. Saturday, May 18, 2019 outside the front entrance of Macmillan Hall on the Wells College campus in Aurora, N.Y.

Dear Margaret: Some people have an easy time being around someone who has recently lost a close friend or relative in death. These people seem to know the right thing to say. It makes me uncomfortable, and what I end up doing is avoiding the grieving person, or when I see them, I ignore the situation. I feel like a jerk, but am afraid of saying the wrong thing. How can I remedy this situation? I'm not comfortable with sentimentality.
Lost for Words