Two months behind schedule, The El Paso County Sheriff’s Office on Friday will open the doors on a 40 patient, $1.9 million detoxification facility.

Colorado Springs lost its detox center when Pikes Peak Mental Health ended its program at The Lighhouse Assessment Center in February.

Sheriff Terry Maketa proposed replacing it with the El Paso County Community Detoxification Facility the same month.

Memorial Health System and Penrose-St. Francis Health Services will contribute $570,000 annually to operate the facility next to the El Paso County Detention Center on East Las Vegas Street, which will provide detoxification care, assessment and treatment referrals and services; $800,000 of state alcohol and drug abuse treatment money will also pay for yearly operations.

When The Lighthouse detox center was closed, hospitals saw an increase in patients needing detox services in emergency rooms.

The facility was originally slated to open in September or October but was delayed by construction snags, funding questions and utilities problems.

Since June 1, the sheriff made available 20 beds for detox in the old metro jail downtown, converted this year into a work release facility. That space will be used for the work-release inmates.

“We consider this the surprise of 2009,” Maketa said.  “Going into this year we anticipated there would be no detox services for the county.  We were able to fund the construction of the facility and are pleased to have the ability to double the capacity of bed space which directly impacts a valuable service to our community.”

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