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In Florida,
medical detox and substance abuse rehabilitation
facilities are licensed by the Department of Children
and Families ("DCF"). We have met people who
operate medical detox or substance abuse rehabilitation
facilities in other states as well as in Florida, and
they tell us that the DCF has much more stringent
licensing requirements than most states. They say
if you can obtain a license in Florida and keep it, you
can meet the standards of any other state
easily.
The initial
license granted by the DCF is for twelve months.
All licensed facilities must be inspected annually
thereafter and must obtain a score of 80% in order to
have their license renewed. The renewal
inspection is conducted by a highly qualified DCF
licensing official who reviews patient files, policies
and procedures, confidentiality procedures and a variety
of other areas, and interviews patients and staff to
ensure that the facility is being properly
operated. This is not a fast process and normally
takes most of a day to complete.
As many of you
know, Novus Medical Detox Center received its
probationary license and opened on April 4, 2007. This
probationary license allowed Novus to provide
detoxification services to patients while we developed
the comprehensive policies and procedures required by
the DCF.
On June 22,
2007, two senior representatives from the DCF visited
Novus to do the inspection which would determine whether
or not Novus received its permanent license.
The representatives reviewed our policies and procedures
and our patient charts, and interviewed several patients
and staff. As a result of that
inspection, we received a score of 96.95%. While
we were very happy to have achieved such a high score,
we also wanted to increase the score the following year
and thought that this might be
difficult.
RENEWAL
On February
13, 2008, we had an inspection by a Senior Human
Services Program Specialist from the DCF to determine if
the DCF would renew our license for an additional
year. On March 31, 2008 we received our license
for 2008-2009. We have excerpted a portion of the
letter that accompanied the license:
"This
letter is official notification that the SunCoast Region
Substance Abuse & Mental Health Program Office has
completed its audit of the Novus program for annual
substance abuse services licensing
renewal.
Novus
Medical Detox validated with an overall score of 100%. A
passing score is 80%. Novus scored 245 points out of a
possible 245. The following program scored better than
80% during the audit and will receive a regular license.
The regular license is granted for a period effective
for one year, April 5, 2008, through April 4,
2009."
HOW MANY PEOPLE HAVE WE
HELPED TODAY?
Each day, when
our staff comes to Novus they see our motto, "How Many
People Have We Helped Today?" We have a highly
qualified staff who could work in many other places but
have chosen to work at Novus because they see how well
our approach works. They are rewarded by hearing
our patients remark that they "...haven't felt this good
in years." Or how they feel is a "miracle."
Achieving a
score of 100% is an acknowledgement of our entire Novus
staff. They are dedicated to not only following
the policies and procedures that we have developed
(accounting for a large part of the 100% score) but also
because they really want to see people improve and don't
feel satisfied unless all of our patients are winning
(accounting for the remaining portion of our
score).
CONCLUSION
In our first
year of operation, we helped nearly 250 people take the
first step toward freeing themselves from the incredible
burden of dependence/addiction. Obtaining a
renewal of our license means that we can help hundreds
more in the coming year at our inpatient
facility.
Education is
the only way to stop the prescription drug epidemic from
spreading faster. We are working closely with Larry G
and his Prescription Addiction radio show that airs each
Sunday night at 9:00 pm EDT. You can listen to the
show by going to the prescriptionaddictionradio.com
website and clicking on "listen live".
We are
providing speakers to service groups, church groups and
schools to help educate people on the dangers of
prescription drugs.
If you have a
friend or family member that is dependent or addicted to
prescription drugs or other drugs, please contact us at
info@novusdetox.com. We will provide you data that you
can share with the friend or family member to assist
them to understand the dangers of their dependence or
addiction and that there is a way to become free.
The drug
companies have the money and the politicians and the
media. But we have something more powerful-the
truth. We have the real facts and throughout
history nothing has been able to stop the
truth. Remember, the light at the end of the
tunnel is not a train but the sunshine of freedom.
We all just have to get out of the
tunnel.
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