The number of people seeking care at Detox has halved since the advent of the COVID-19 pandemic, but as restrictions and stresses build through the monthlong stay-at-home order, numbers may rise.

Fewer people drinking and driving means fewer people with DUIs referred to Detox by law enforcement, said Brian Ensign, director of residential and crisis services with Axis Health System’s detox withdrawal program at Detox.

“I think this is just a short-term decrease in census and referrals. I think it will pop back up again. But for right now, with people worried and taking care of the crisis at hand, they’re not out as much,” he said. “But we’re still taking folks who are withdrawing off alcohol or methamphetamine or other kinds of opiates, mostly alcohol.”

Detox at Crossroads typically sees 10 referrals a day, and Ensign said the current number is about five per day from the counties it serves, La Plata, Montezuma, Archuleta, San Juan and Dolores.

Clients from local law enforcement agencies in all five counties as well as the Colorado State Patrol, the Southern Ute Tribal Police and the Ute Mountain Ute Tribal Police Department are referred to Detox at Crossroads.

The center also serves self-referrals, family referrals and medical referrals, and it is from these sources that Ensign worries client numbers may grow as COVID-19 restrictions endure through the end of the month.

“We’re doing business as usual, and we’re taking care of people that we get. I don’t want to guess at what’s going to happen in the future. I’m hopeful people will be taking care of themselves and not overusing and self-medicating with more alcohol and drugs than usual. Maybe I’m hopeful, but we’ll see,” Ensign said.

Restrictions have been placed on new referrals to Detox at Crossroads both to protect clients and employees. Patients with symptoms of COVID-19 – a dry cough, fever, body aches – are not being seen. And Detox is not taking COVID-19 positive patients, Ensign said.

Pre-COVID-19 capacity at Detox at Crossroads is 16 patients at a time, but that has been cut to six to maintain social distancing and to abide by health recommendations for operations during the novel coronavirus outbreak.

“We’re just taking precautions for clients and staff. We are asking staff members to wear masks for the protection of the patients. And we’re assessing temperature and other vitals on a more regular basis for the patients. We have to make sure they don’t transmit anything,” he said.

Detox at Crossroads is still running its outpatient monitoring program for probation and pretrial services with the Department of Human Services as well.

The center has 20 employees, 10 full-time positions and 10 employees who work part-time shifts, and Ensign said the center has not had to look at furloughs or layoffs yet because of the decreased patient numbers.

“We are continually watching our budget, but with less patients, our expenses are less. Our staffing has to be the same whether we have five patients or 15. We have a minimum staffing requirement, Ensign said. “At this point, we haven’t cut, and hopefully we don’t, we won’t have to.”

parmijo@durangoherald.com