Rainforest Recovery Center at Bartlett Regional Hospital is closing permanently next Tuesday and a limited takeover of its residential substance abuse treatment program by Gastineau Human Services may not be in place until January — although the hope is some care can begin as soon as this month, according to officials.
The hospital announced the closure in an email to staff Thursday, four days before the Juneau Assembly was scheduled to introduce at its Monday night meeting an ordinance providing $500,000 intended to keep the program going through the fiscal year that ends next June 30. The Assembly instead unanimously voted to return the matter to its Finance Committee, which had given preliminary approval to the funding at a Sept. 4 meeting, for further evaluation Wednesday.
Christine Woll, who chairs the committee, said in an interview Monday the city-owned hospital’s closure of the program wasn’t part of the information provided at the Sept. 4 meeting, and she hadn’t seen the email sent Thursday and wasn’t familiar with its contents.
“I’m definitely shocked and heartbroken,” she said. “The majority of the Assembly had repeatedly said that we wanted to continue these services and that we were willing to figure out how to make it work. And I didn’t hear anything from the hospital that suggested that they were closing the services.”
The wording of the proposed ordinance indicates the expectation Bartlett Regional Hospital would continue the program until the takeover by Gastineau Human Services occurs.
“This one-time funding will contribute toward RRC’s operational deficit in the current fiscal year and ensure BRH can continue providing these services through June 30, 2025,” the proposed ordinance states. “BRH is actively working to transition services historically provided by RRC to Gastineau Human Services effective in FY26.”
However, Assembly members asked Monday night if the funding is needed at all given next week’s announced closure. Kim McDowell, the hospital’s chief nursing officer and chief operating officer, said that in addition to transitional costs the hospital will be providing a practitioner to Gastineau Human Services to help when the nonprofit begins providing the program’s services.
She said several Rainforest Recovery staff have resigned in recent months and the day after the Sept. 4 meeting there was yet another resignation that was the tipping point where the hospital no longer felt it was possible to keep the center open.
“People decided they needed to move on or look for different work” since it became clear the hospital would not continue long-term operation of the center, McDowell said.
Bartlett Interim CEO Ian Worden stated in the email to staff that “the uncertainty of sustainable funding to support services has led to the resignations of several staff.”
“At this time, we do not have sufficient staffing to continue providing services beyond September 23, and we do not expect it to reopen before October 31,” he wrote. “As a result, hospital leadership has made the difficult decision to permanently close RRC. The majority of current residents will be discharged before the program closure date, and the few remaining already have plans in place for a safe discharge.”
McDowell said one of the four current patients will complete their program before the closure, while the other three have made plans to complete treatment elsewhere afterward.
An announcement similar to Worden’s email at Rainforest Recovery’s website states a transition plan aims to have Gastineau Human Services providing the program’s services at a lower classification level of treatment by Jan. 6. Joe Wanner, who as Bartlett’s chief financial officer was named its new permanent CEO effective Sept. 29, told Assembly members the Jan. 6 date was when the hospital was hoping to keep Rainforest Recovery operating until the transition occurred.
Gastineau Human Services Executive Director Jonathan Swinton said in an interview Monday the hope is the transition can occur sooner after learning about Bartlett’s announcement. The nonprofit facility opened a 19-bed residential substance abuse facility a year ago and the plan discussed at the Sept. 4 meeting expands that program by eight beds.
“I can’t give an exact timeline, except I would anticipate the additional four beds will hopefully be open by the end of this month and, at the latest, the last four before the end of the year with the hope that it will be far sooner than that, just conditioned on us hiring the right people,” he said.
Swinton said he didn’t know about the announced closure of Rainforest Recovery until Monday, noting he’s been out of town for the past week, and “I had anticipated them keeping their program running through the end of this calendar year.”
Rainforest Recovery Center provides “high-intensity” residential treatment at its 16-bed facility, while Gastineau Human Services provides “low-intensity” residential care with eight beds. The primary difference between the two levels of care is “additional medical supervision and more hours of structured programming” for high-intensity programs, according to a summary by the city manager’s office.
About half of the people at Rainforest Recovery Center have been Juneau residents, according to Juneau officials. Assembly members, when tentatively approving funds for the program Sept. 4, said continuing sufficient services for local residents was a priority.
Swinton said generally speaking the treatment program at his facility has been operating at full capacity.
Bartlett is in the process of cutting, outsourcing or seeking additional funding for several “non-core” programs in an effort to stem heavy financial losses during the past four years. Among those are hospital and home health services, with the Assembly voting Monday to proceed with consideration of a proposal providing $200,000 in general funds, supplemented by $186,000 from the hospital’s fund balance, to ensure the programs continue through the fiscal year.
The hospital closed its crisis stabilization program at the Aurora Behavioral Health Center in mid-July, about seven months after the opening of the center, with officials citing a lack of funds. The building is still being used for other purposes.
Erin Hardin, a spokesperson for the hospital, stated in an email Monday that Rainforest Recovery “was the final program under consideration for dedicated financial subsidy — we do not anticipate a similar situation occurring with another service.”
• Contact Mark Sabbatini at mark.sabbatini@juneauempire.com or (907) 957-2306.
