MUSCATINE, Iowa–When a person needs help treating a drug or alcohol addiction, they may feel uncertain about where to get help and concerned they may need to go out of town to access care. For Muscatine County residents though, New Horizons, a part of UnityPoint Trinity Muscatine, offers outpatient substance abuse services close to home.
New Horizons offers a variety of services to assist people dealing with substance abuse. Their nine fulltime staff members, including two prevention specialists, can assist adolescents and adults in a number of ways. Patients seeking treatment start with a substance abuse evaluation, which lets New Horizons staff determine the right level of care for them. They can then enroll the patient in their intensive outpatient program, if appropriate. They can also provide individual and group counseling, depending on the patient’s needs and help them determine the frequency of counseling that would benefit them most. To make sure that patients can keep up with their treatment plans, New Horizons offers morning, afternoon, and evening programming to work around people’s work and family schedules.
While working with New Horizons, patients will receive case management to help them determine when they can step down to a less intensive level of care and to help connect them to community resources, such as physical and mental healthcare providers, transportation, other community services, and support groups they can continue to work with even after they complete their treatment. If a patient does not speak English, New Horizons can provide them with an interpreter who speaks just about any language.
New Horizons offers additional substance abuse related services as well. They can perform drug tests and urinalysis for people who need them to comply with a court order, for employment, or as part of routine workplace testing for people in certain careers. They also provide substance abuse prevention education throughout the community.
To make substance abuse treatment available to as many people as possible, New Horizons strives to keep their services affordable. They accept all major insurers, including Medicare and Medicaid. Additionally, they provide services on a sliding fee scale based on a patient’s income. If a patient does not have insurance and has trouble affording their care, New Horizons can assist them in finding financial help.
Brook Brown, a prevention specialist with New Horizons, has seen through her work the importance of having substance abuse treatment programs in cities of all sizes. “Our services benefit the community because substance abuse doesn’t just affect the persons themselves, it affects their friends and family,” she said.
New Horizons, located at 1605 Cedar Street Suite B in Muscatine, just across from UnityPoint Trinity Muscatine Hospital, can take walk-in patients Monday through Thursday 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. and Fridays from 8 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. Walk ins will receive same day services on a first come first served basis. If a person experiences an emergency, such as a drug overdose or alcohol poisoning, they should visit the emergency room at UnityPoint Trinity Muscatine Hospital instead.
