By DAVE SCHULTZ
The Landmark Recovery/Praxis of Fort Wayne facility at 1529 Lancaster St. in Bluffton will be closing its doors Thursday.
Bluffton Police Chief Kyle Randall asked Trevor Conger, the executive director of the Praxis facility, in an email about the facility’s status. He said he had been told that employees had been notified of the closure, and wanted to know if that was accurate.
In his return email, which Randall shared with Mayor John Whicker, Conger said what Randall had heard was true.
“Sadly, this is accurate,” Conger replied.
Over the weekend, he said, the facility’s Medicaid contracts were canceled and that all employees were placed on a 30-day furlough “as the future of the facility is unknown.”
“That being said,” Conger continued, “we are currently obtaining safe discharge plans for all of our patients and will have all patients out of the building by Thursday.”
Landmark announced last Thursday that three of its Indiana operations — addiction recovery centers in Bluffton, Carmel, and Mishawaka — have had their licenses to operate revoked by the Indiana Division of Mental Health and Addiction. On Monday, the company announced its Medicaid insurance contracts were canceled.
The furlough announcement made for Bluffton also applied to the Carmel and Mishawaka sites as well.
According to a report from the WNDU television station in South Bend, Landmark issued a statement Monday acknowledging the closures. All three will close Aug. 3.
“This means that 400 per month of the most vulnerable citizens who rely on Medicaid to access treatment for life threatening addiction will not be able to access care,” the statement said. “An average of four individuals with addiction die per day in (Indiana). We believe that more will die as a result of this decision to shut down over half of the Medicaid treatment beds in the state.
“We are doing everything in our power to fight the untrue narratives that have been shared about our facility and we are repealing (sic) the decision by DMHA this week,” the statement continued.
The Lancaster Street site formerly housed the Signature Care nursing home, which closed in late 2020. The Bluffton Common Council voted 5-0 in early 2021 to rezone the property for use as a substance addition treatment center.
daves@news-banner.com
