As Montana leaders call for more money to fight Montana's drug epidemic, here's a look at another approach: the planned construction of Rimrock Foundation's $29 million addiction treatment campus in Billings.
The new facility will be built on property on Sixth Avenue North and North 13th Street.
Part of the warehouse will be turned into a parking lot, and the nonprofit will construct a new building.
The whole idea is to make things more efficient to help more people.
"We get letters from people, telephone calls from people that have been through our services, and they say things like, 'you've saved my life,'" said Lenette Kosovich, Rimrock Foundation CEO.
Kosovich knows firsthand the impact the Rimrock Foundation has had on Montana.
She also knows many desperately need help with substance abuse and mental health.
"The needs for our services have increased substantially," Kosovich said. "People continue to call, asking for help."
That rising demand for services is the motivation behind a $29 million project to build a new five-acre campus, including a 90,000-square-foot building for treatment programs.
"Some of the things we're really excited about is we will put our mental health center there, our outpatient center will be there also, we have the only detoxification center," Kosovich said. "It's a medical unit in Montana."
"Whether it's Rimrock or Salvation Army, YWCA, Montana Rescue Mission, all of these bring more physical capacity space for people to be," said Kari Boiter, Yellowstone County Continuum Of Care board president. "And supportive services along with that to help people get to the ultimate goal of being housed and staying housed."
The Rimrock Foundation is part of the continuum and one of many organizations helping people with substance abuse, mental health and homelessness.
Boiter says all the issues are connected.
"Whether somebody has physical disabilities and winds up on the street or mental illness and winds up on the street, oftentimes, substance use then comes hand in hand with that," Boiter said.
The Rimrock Foundation has been at its current building since 1972 and has 11 facilities across Billings.
The new campus will consolidate all services to one campus, a multi-pronged approach to tackling a big problem confronting all of Montana.
"We can always do more to meet the need here," Boiter said. "It's growing faster than we can meet it."
"The issue of substance use disorder is not going away," Kosovich said.
The building is expected to be completed in 2024.
