NPORTC Magazine

S teven Adarkwah-Yiadom is the owner of Heritage Treatment Center, an outpatient substance abuse clinic specializing in methadone and suboxone maintenance. Heritage Treatment Center also provides counseling. Methadone and suboxone are medications used to ease withdrawal symptoms as a patient detoxes from opioids. Steven explains that when patients come in, their condition may be mild, intermediate, or severe. He adds that since they are an outpatient facility, he would send the most severe cases to a hospital. And he is very hands-on—Steven is not only the owner but also a nurse at Heritage Treatment Center. “Most patients who come in are treated first at the crisis center and need to be put on methadone or suboxone maintenance, and they are sent to me.” Clients also may be reaching out on their own for help or mandated by the court for a drug treatment plan. Heritage Treatment Center also keeps in contact with local housing programs, such as New Place of Recovery Treatment Center and Tuerk House. If a client comes into Heritage and is homeless, Heritage can refer them to New Place and Tuerk. And vice-versa, if a client from New Place or Tuerk needs a methadone or suboxone treatment, they are referred to Heritage Treatment Center. “We have counselors, a nurse practitioner, and our medical director is Dr. Gazaway. And I have a copartner who is the program director. Her name is Tiffany Beane.” As for Steven, “I'm a nurse here myself. I'm working on my Ph.D. as well. I used to work with various addiction treatment centers, and it got to the point where I thought it was time for me to open my own center, so I can actually serve my clientele—because I have helped a lot of patients.” Steven has a bachelor's as well as a master's degree in mathematics but decided to make a change. “I switched to nursing, so that's my field now; I switched to medicine.”

He was educated both in his home country of Ghana and in the United States. Steven adds that he would really like to see more family involvement with patients. “My goal is to make addiction recovery more family oriented. When you combine all the family support with the will of the person going through this, sometimes the family can really be a big help in making sure that the patient is staying clean.” Steven sees how the patients heal over time as they recover from their addiction. He sees them from day one: “We see patients come in on the very first day, and within three months, we see how well they are. We see the difference. From taking illicit drugs to being able to go back to work. With this program, Heritage is able to make sure they get clean, help them recover, and help them get back to their normal life.” He adds, “Sometimes with a drug addiction, you are unable to work, unable to do whatever you want to do, but as soon as you get clean, people are ready to employ you.”

“Addiction is a pandemic on its own, so it's not going anywhere.”

Steven Adarkwah-Yiadom

Owner of Heritage Treatment Center

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