Manchester, MAINE – Governor Janet Mills today celebrated the upcoming opening of Everest Recovery Center, a new opioid use treatment and recovery facility in Manchester. The center is Everest’s second Maine location following the opening of a Saco facility last year, and the state’s third treatment site to open after nearly ten years of no new clinics.

The facility will provide comprehensive care for individuals with opioid use disorder, including medication assisted treatment services that utilize methadone, a medication proven to effectively treat opioid use disorder. Expanding the availability of medication assisted treatment options, such as methadone and buprenorphine, is a priority of Maine’s Opioid Response Strategic Action Plan.

As part of the celebration, Governor Mills also announced that Everest Recovery will join Maine’s Opioid Health Home program. The initiative provides increased reimbursement for a comprehensive set of services for opioid use disorder treatment including medication, opioid dependency counseling, and comprehensive care management for eligible MaineCare members and uninsured individuals.

    “As we all know too well, the opioid crisis has reached into every corner of our state, but it’s treatment centers like Everest Recovery that are working hard every day to save lives and put people on a life-long path to recovery,” said Governor Janet Mills. “I am grateful for the critical work that the folks at Everest Recovery are doing and pledge that my Administration will continue to do all we can to prevent and treat addiction, and, above all else, to save lives.”

    “Expanding affordable, immediate, and local treatment options for substance use disorder is a key part of our state’s response to the Opioid Crisis,” said Gordon Smith, Director of Opioid Response. “Everest Recovery is helping to make effective treatment available near where Maine people work and live.”

    "We are excited to open and begin serving the communities in the Augusta surrounding area," said Peter Morris, Co-Founder & CEO of Everest Recovery."We strive to provide quality, compassionate, effective treatment and want to make Everest Recovery a place where we would be proud to send a family member of ours if they were suffering from this disease. Governor Mills and her administration have been instrumental in expanding treatment access to Mainers which is saving lives."

Today’s announcement follows a series of new actions announced last month by the Governor focused on addressing the opioid epidemic, including expanding the state’s purchase and distribution of naloxone by 25 percent, doubling OPTIONS liaisons in partnership with Attorney General Aaron Frey, and increasing the availability of residential treatment and detox beds across the state.