Gallup detox program needs funding

GALLUP (KRQE) - It is no secret there are a lot of people with alcohol problems in the Gallup area.

So it is troubling when one of the biggest detoxification centers around says it could be closing its doors in six months if no one steps in to guarantee funding.

The executive director of the detox center says he is doing everything he can to keep the doors open and keep alcoholics from flooding emergency rooms and jail cells.

About 24,000 people a year walk through the doors at Na'Nizhoozhi Center Incorporated for its detox program in Gallup.

NCI Executive Director John Jay Azua says a $300,000 check for the program from Navajo Nation was a nice Christmas present, but NCI is still in need of long-term funding.

"It offers us an opportunity to pursue other funding streams and makes it so we can at least make it through the winter before having to cut back on services or close our doors,” Azua says.

He says the Navajo Nation, which primarily uses NCI’s services, has been a major source of funding every year—giving the detox center $2 million in 2005. But that number has dropped each year since, and next year they're not guaranteeing anything.

"We know what they do, what they are capable of doing,” says Erny Zah, spokesman for the Navajo Nation president. “We're thankful for their services.”

But Zah says the Navajo Nation is now going to have an application process to give other detox centers throughout the reservation an opportunity to compete for funding.

“We have Flagstaff, Farmington, Gallup, Holbrook, Winslow, Cortez—a lot of these towns have similar problems and similar centers as NCI," Zah said.

Azua says without the detox program, Gallup would see more people in emergency rooms, jail and the court system.

"The overall impact on the community, should we have to close our doors, would be dramatic from a health perspective," he said.

With the money NCI has now, Azua gives the program about six months.

In the meantime, he is working on getting everything from city money to federal funds to keep it going.

Not everyone who goes into detox opts for treatment, but NCI says 95 percent of people who do, finish treatment successfully.