Specifically, the detox and recovery organization is looking forward to completion of its new 38,000-square-foot building which will host all of CFR’s programs — yes, it’s a lot larger than what they have now.

“We will have so much space we don’t have right now, which I think will make this building so much more effective,” said Executive Director Michelle De La Riva. “Our old adult residential location feels like we’re packed into a tin can.”

CFR has been at its South 17th Street location since it was founded 51 years ago, De La Riva said. It has more services than can fit in that building, also offering the STARS adolescent residential program on North Eighth Street and outpatient services north of Fort Dodge on 31st Avenue North.

Now all those services will be provided at one location on Avenue M West, she said.

-Messenger photo by Joe Sutter
Michelle De La Riva, left, executive director, and Marketing Manager Allison Hulshof view samples of new paint as it’s going up on the second floor of CFR’s new building. De La Riva said staff are especially excited about getting to work in a building where the offices all have windows.

Woodruff Construction broke ground on the new facility in October 2017. The goal is to move into the building by May.

The expansive building offers plenty of advantages over the old locations, De La Riva said. For one thing, there are more windows.

“We wanted every single room to have natural light,” she said. “It improves hopefulness and well-being.”

Each wing in the building will also have outdoor patios, fenced in for privacy, so that people can go out and get more air and some sun, De La Riva said.

Everyone will enter through a main front door. Outpatient rooms are down one hall, while residential rooms are down another hall. Adolescents will be taken care of upstairs, but everything else is all on one floor.

-Messenger photo by Joe Sutter
David Rolfes, of Rolfes Painting, talks color schemes in various wings of the new building with Michelle De La Riva, CFR executive director. Paint was already starting to go up on the upper floor, while construction crews continued to install lighting and finish walls throughout the building.

Down into the residential rooms, a nurse’s station is centrally located. Thirteen detox beds are found here — in a more hospital-like wing, including hospital beds and emergency cords.

Next to this, the men’s wing will hold up to 22 people and the women’s wing will hold 20 people. All the wings have a common area and washing machines.

There’s a cafeteria and a recreation room which will hold workout equipment.

There are also a few gender-neutral rooms near the joining of both wings, another addition that has been needed before.

“If they’re not comfortable on the men’s or the women’s unit,” De La Riva said. “It will be very nice. We have had some people come in who are transitioning. The law says they have to be on the unit that matches their biological gender.”

-Messenger photo by Joe Sutter
Executive Director Michelle De La Riva, left, and Marketing Manager Allison Hulshof tour a residential treatment wing of the under-construction new CFR building. The large facility is slated for opening in May.

The increase in rooms means CFR can see more patients per year.

“It will be more than 200 more we can serve,” she said. “The length of stay for adult residential is usually 30 days.

“I think it will be full.”

Other little details will help the staff and residents. For instance, all administrative and accounting staff will have their own office spaces, instead of being within the women’s residential common area.

“We’re excited for closets,” De La Riva said. “The little things you don’t have, you get excited about.”

-Messenger photo by Joe Sutter
Logan Fear, with Tjaden Electric, works at the new CFR building on Avenue M West recently as Michelle De La Riva, executive director, looks on. The $6.6 million building should be complete by May.

Juvenile and adult rooms will have built in wardrobes, too, instead of dressers — which De La Riva said don’t last too long.

Work has been coming along quickly, thanks to favorable weather, in contrast to last year when extreme cold and snow hampered construction

“Woodruff is very dedicated to us,” De La Riva said.

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De La Riva is also excited about CFR’s new Medically Assisted Treatment clinic that just opened this month.

Through a partnership with United Community Services in Des Moines, the clinic will be open Monday through Saturday for people to come in for evaluations, and to be assessed for medication to help them kick opioid addiction.

A new funding source has also been added for anyone not covered by insurance, Medicaid or other sources.

“We were awarded the integrated provider network grant, which is our grant through the Iowa Department of Public Health, which is the SAMSA grant,” De La Riva said. “This will pay for people who need detox services who are unfunded … As of Jan. 1, 2019, we are able to take people on our sliding fee scale to our medically monitored inpatient unit, also known as detox.”

Webster County previously paid for some of these patients, until it ended its agreement with CFR in July. Other counties also have agreements with CFR.

CFR also received a new grant for mental health first aid, she said, and is in the process of hiring for that.

It’s also continuing on a capital campaign to help fund the facility, which was built for a total of about $6.6 million.

“We are raising $2 million toward the building,” De La Riva said. “We are currently at just over $860,000.

“We have a loan through Great Western bank to pay for it. But what we are trying to do is be very judicious with it, as a not for profit, to ensure we don’t have too large of a loan. We really want to raise $2 million rather than borrow.”