Hospital systems say money for detox center to be approved within week

Colorado Springs' two hospital systems reiterated their commitments Wednesday to pay $570,000 a year to help run a detoxification center, saying they should have decisions from their governing boards within a week.

Whether those decisions will make a difference to the driving force behind the detox plan is unclear.

The city has been without a detox center since February, when Pikes Peak Mental Health closed its operation at The Lighthouse Assessment Center over financial concerns. El Paso County Sheriff Terry Maketa later came up with a plan to set aside 40 beds of a planned detention center for detox if the hospitals would help pay for its operations.

The hospitals have informally said they are willing to contribute, but Maketa said he never received their pledges in writing, a commitment he needed in order to proceed. On Tuesday, he lambasted the hospitals' top executives for not acting sooner and dismissing deadlines, and said he had to move on to meet a construction deadline. He has ordered construction to begin on the detention center as it was originally designed before detox was ever suggested.

Spokespeople for both hospital systems have said the requested amounts - $400,000 a year from Memorial and $170,000 from Penrose - are not in question, and that the commitments Maketa needs should come within the next several days, once the hospitals' boards approve them.

Maketa could not be reached for comment Wednesday evening on whether those commitments will resurrect his detox plan.

The hospitals said in a prepared statement Tuesday that the first time they heard specific financial requests and key details of the detox plan was May 8, and that they've moved quickly to get the necessary approvals.

Maketa contends the hospitals have known for weeks what was needed from them and that May 8 brought no surprises.

He's also accused Penrose CEO Margaret Sabin of offering just $100,000. Penrose spokeswoman Stacey Knott said $100,000 is all Sabin can personally authorize; the remaining $70,000 is subject to board approval. But she indicated that the hospital system is willing to contribute the full amount.

Detox centers take in chronic drunks, who otherwise tend to end up in emergency departments. Memorial and Penrose have made similar contributions to The Lighthouse for years, because detox saves them the cost of many unpaid ER visits.

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