Camden groups oppose moving methadone clinic to Broadway and Morgan Blvd.

Reprinted with permission of the Catholic Star Herald 

 

Written by Rich Luongo

Friday, February 01, 2008

CAMDEN — Locating a methadone clinic here in the Waterfront South neighborhood would violate the right of privacy of addicts who would come there for help, said Msgr. Michael Doyle, pastor of Sacred Heart Church that was host Monday night (January 28, 2008) to a rally protesting the relocation of the Parkside Clinic from near Cooper Hospital to Waterfront South. The rally, which attracted more than 175 interested residents, was co-sponsored by Sacred Heart and Camden Churches Organized for People. City officials and police brass were invited but only Councilman Bill Spearman showed up. Police officials were forbidden to attend the meeting, according to Pat Mulligan of Heart of Camden Housing Corp., a member of CCOP, which rehabilitates abandoned homes. Also in the audience were Gloucester City Councilmen Nick Marchese and Jay Brophy. Marchese and Brophy both spoke at the rally, telling those in attendance the City of Gloucester City will support them in their fight to move the clinic to another location. "It is unfair to the addicted person to put the clinic here because the only people milling about would be addicts and prostitutes," said Msgr. Doyle. "They might as well wear an 'A' on their clothes for addict. They should not be subjected to that. Medical privacy is being promoted these days and this would be a terrible place to locate the clinic just to solve a problem." He suggested a place such as Lakeland would be a better choice because no one, he pointed out, would know why an individual is there since Lakeland treats all manner of ailments. Cooper Hospital is seeking to expand its health-related facilities and wants to move the Parkside clinic at Broadway and Washington — operated by NHS, a non-profit with headquarters in Lafayette Hill, Pa. — that treats up to 700 addicts a day, to Broadway and Morgan, an area Msgr. Doyle called "the gateway to Camden." "Two-thirds of these people are from outside of Camden, from the suburbs in Camden County and Gloucester County," noted Mulligan. "This is a regional problem, not just Camden's. The burden must be taken from the city." "Camden has a multitude of drug-treatment centers serving people from Camden and Gloucester counties," said Andrea Ferich of the Sacred Heart Neighborhood/CCOP organizing committee. "Our South Camden neighborhood already has one new clinic coming in. We've done our fair share in Camden." "The waterfront area has had its own problems over the years," Mulligan said. "The city has its problems. The police are stretched. We've had 11 murders already this year. It is unfair to Camden to locate this methadone clinic here. We've done enough." The South Jersey Port Corp. runs the Broadway and Beckett Street marine terminals and its board voted last March to lease an underused building at Broadway to NHS. "The corporation is being pressured by others more powerful to put that methadone clinic there," said Mulligan, although the group's charter mandates that tax-exempt waterfront land only go to tenants in the maritime industry. Reportedly if the board approves turning the building over to NHS, the CCOP and others involved are expected to bring suit against the corporation for failing to live up to its own by-laws. Camden Churches Organized for People (CCOP) is a federation of 25 faith-based institutions working together since 1985 to improve conditions for families in Camden.

Comments

[Stephen N Roche]

I was the program evaluation supervisor for a methadone clinic at a small hospital in Philly in the mid-1970s. I watched patients hold their liquid doses (they were pink back then) in their mouths and spit the dose into a cup held by someone waiting for it outside the clinic. It was reported, but no one was able to stop it. Fox's Jeff Cole "uncovered" something that's been going on for 30 years or more.
And County Prosecutor Ottenberg didn't seem too optimistic about stopping it any time soon. Maybe he's more concerned about dealing with crimes that involve victims.