Saud Anwar

Senator Anwar Tours Connecticut Valley Hospital Amid Concern Over Lack of Addiction Services Beds

On Thursday, State Senator Saud Anwar (D-South Windsor) joined representatives from the SEIU District 1199 at Middletown’s Connecticut Valley Hospital to tour the facilities amid concern from advocates that the Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services has reduced the available number of addiction services beds at Blue Hills and Connecticut Valley Hospital. The tour allowed for leaders to see conditions at the hospital firsthand and consider the needs for in-patient detox for substance use and other addiction services.

“We know that mental health and addiction are serious and significant problems in Connecticut. We lose more than 1,000 lives each year to drug overdoses, and many more struggle with the disease of addiction,” said Sen. Anwar. “We need to have proper resources available to aid those struggling and break the cycles and stigmas of addiction. I’m hopeful that the Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services can work to establish a better path forward and help connect more people in need with resources that can directly aid them.”

Blue Hills and Connecticut Valley Hospital offer in-patient medically-managed detoxification and rehabilitation services to those needing them, with beds intended to be available. These programs can manage multiple substance dependencies and are vital to the Hartford and Middletown communities. However, for at least two months, Blue Hills Hospital has reported zero available beds, and as many as 20 people per day are rejected from addiction services beds.

SEIU 1199 representatives seek to restore and expand the available addiction services division capacity to save people’s lives. The Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services has stated capacity increases are unavailable right now due to significant job vacancies in the Addiction Services Division.