Neil Kennedy Breaks Ground for 4th Recovery House

YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio – The Neil Kennedy Recovery Center broke ground Tuesday morning for its the fourth recovery house, to be built next to its main campus, 2151 Rush Blvd. The house is expected to be complete in the winter of 2017.

“The needs are great. The problem is huge. We just hope to progress and do the best we can to help the community who is suffering during this tragic time in our history, the opioid epidemic,” said Albert Cinelli, MD, a contributor to the new house.

The recovery house, named in honor of doctors Pugh, Cinelli, Wang and Gerberry, will provide abstinence-based living arrangements for up to 12 women and the same services as the centers: 24-hour security, meals, a full day of treatment services at the main building, community-building activities, and recovery coaching.

Carolyn Givens, executive director at Neil Kennedy, said the need to build the recovery house is urgent. “We’re in a crisis,” she said. “Making sure that we have treatment capacity available for people who need to come into care is what we’ve been about for 70 years.”

Givens thanked Neil Kennedy and Gateway staff, the Ohio Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services, the Mahoning County Mental Health and Recovery Services Board, the J. Ford Crandall Memorial Foundation, doctors Pugh, Cinelli, Wang, and Gerberry and an anonymous donor for their contributions to the new recovery house.

The house is paid for, entirely through donations, with investment around $290,00. The anonymous donator gave a little more than half, $150,000.

Over a year ago, Cinelli recalled, he received a phone call from a friend, who asked him where he could send $150,000. “I knew exactly where it should go,” he said, of the gift he called “wonderful and needed.”

“This is the next step after being in the main house. In recovery they need to be kept in an umbrella of safety,” Cinelli said. “The new home to the main building is just a few steps away, and they will be protected in every way.”

Mayor John A. McNally congratulated all who helped with the project. “In a very difficult time across the country and this area,” he said, “it’s good to see that we have folks around here who are committed to helping people.”

Once the fourth recovery house is built, Neil Kennedy can house up to 60 people.

“Recovery is a slow, difficult, but a possible procession, and the more people we can serve that way, the better the community is,” Cinelli said.

Pictured: Dr. Albert Cinelli, Carolyn Givens, Mayor John McNally and Carol Rimedio- Righetti, Mahoning County commissioner.

Copyright 2024 The Business Journal, Youngstown, Ohio.