Detoxification Services Addiction Prevention and Recovery Administration
APRA's 80-bed, 24 hour Detoxification Center (Detox) is located on the campus of DC General. This unit facilitates medical detoxification services for a variety of abused substances, including heroin, cocaine, alcohol, and PCP.
Detoxification Center -- DC Department of Health 1900 Massachusetts Avenue, SE, Building 12, Washington, DC 20003
Clinic Manager: Stephen Wright, Telephone: (202) 698-6080
Hours of Operation: 24 hours
Typically, patients with substance abuse problems enter Detox at the start of their APRA treatment. People with both cocaine and heroin habits are clinically detoxed at the commencement of their treatment. Patients in substance abuse outpatient treatment programs on methadone maintenance, whose urine indicates positive use for cocaine or other drugs during the course of treatment, are referred for detoxification from that specific drug, and then returned to their methadone maintenance clinic for further assistance. Finally, methadone patients in compliance may complete a slow detoxification program from methadone.
The availability of beds at Detox depends primarily on the number of patients being treated at any given time and the type of medical problems that occur. Nurses are on duty 24 hours a day; doctors remain on call throughout the day.
Patients enter Detox through the following:
By police officer
By others
Walk-in
Referred there by the Central Registry Division (CRD)
Detox officials reserve the right to determine a patient’s status for admission. In the case of an individual with severe medical ailments, the patient would first be medically cleared through DC General’s Urgent Care Center. After the person's medical problems are addressed, he or she would be referred back to Detox. Medical emergencies arising at Detox are immediately referred to DC General, or to a patient's own primary care medical professional.
The length of stay at Detox depends on the type of drug usage, the severity of that particular case, and the intake situation at the place of referral. Generally, patients being stabilized at Detox remain there 5-7 days while under close medical supervision. This is the customary approach for alcoholics and cocaine users. Initial treatment and referral discharge plans are developed during the stay at Detox.
Upon the completion of medical detoxification clients are linked to continued care at a substance abuse treatment program.
Some cases are referred to community-based programs or longer-term treatment within the framework of a therapeutic regimen. Others are referred to intensive day treatment, or, in the case of addicted mothers with children, to a residential facility that accommodates single-parent families. Heroin users customarily are referred to one of APRA's outpatient methadone maintenance programs where they are given a lengthy opportunity to gain sobriety, stability, and support before being slowly detoxed from methadone.
