Desperate to get into recovery, addicts told, not so fast

David Perkins, in police booking photo; and surveillance image from HRCU robbery earlier this month.

ROCHESTER - Drug addiction treatment advocates agree that the window for getting an addict into a rehab pathway and away from drugs is often small, but The Rochester Voice has learned it sometimes still takes weeks, even months, before many can get into a residential program.

The problem? It comes down to money, said Rochester Community Recovery Center assistant coordinator Marla Snow.

The finding comes on the heels of a recent Rochester Voice story that detailed what appeared to be the frantic pleas earlier this month for help from a man who four days later is alleged to have robbed the Holy Rosary Credit Union.

David Allan Perkins, 46, who was arrested in the Jan. 13 robbery last Friday, seemed to be telling friends in a Facebook post on Jan. 9 that he was at his wit's end from addiction and trying to get into a residential program.

"I would go to rehab right that's right I caught a habit shocker right but I have insurance have called a hundred places it's impossible I think it's all a scam....," he wrote. "Why not me so I spell my name wrong do you have to be more attractive less attractive my habits f---ing stupid seems real to me I don't understand...please don't hit me with ads I've been through them all of someone has a phone number post it."

Snow said on Wednesday that the sad truth is that when it comes to residential recovery programs, "very, very few" addicts can get the help they need when they need it.

"If that person doesn't have insurance, they don't have a lot of options," Snow said. "Most treatment facilities require insurance coverage."

Snow said most addicts don't have insurance, and even Medicaid recipients have a hard time finding a facility that will take them in immediately.

"It's one of the hardest conversations I have when I have to tell them that I don't have an immediate solution," said Snow, who, herself, has lost a close friend to addiction.

She said when addicts find this out it can often be devastating.

"I have to say it might be a small time when it doesn't come to fruition, and the discouragement, the shame, the hold of the addiction takes them back," Snow said.

She said another detriment to those who can't immediately get into a residential program is that many of them are homeless, and the closest shelters readily available for addicts are in Manchester and Nashua.

Most of them don't have cars, so they end up staying locally at someone's house for $10 a night and oftentimes there's drug activity going on where they stay and they can fall back, Snow added.

For those that can get to Manchester or Nashua, they can go into any fire station and personnel there will get them a drug-free shelter for the night, then they can find day facilities where they can speak to coaches and try to strengthen their recovery commitment.

But it's not an easy trail.

Snow said that once they're signed up for a residential facility, where the detox program can run from 28-90 days, it can take from a couple of weeks to several weeks for them to be accepted and for a bed to become available.

Jane Dilboy Turner, a lifelong resident of Rochester who grew up with Perkins and is active in the drug recovery community, said she knew of several cases where it had, in fact, taken six months for addicts to find their way into a residential treatment program.

Snow said she did not doubt that, but added that it's a "very fractured system" and that addicts may be screaming to get into a program one day and fall back into the habit the next, making it even more frustrating for everyone, including both addicts as well as counselors and coaches.

She said her best days are when someone comes in and has insurance and they can get them into a top-notch facility within hours.

She said some facilities like Green Mountain Treatment Center in Effingham will come right over and pick them up immediately.

Snow said seeing her clients sometimes make strides then falling back into the evils of addiction is both stressful and emotional for her.

"We're making progress, but we've got a long ways to go," she said.

Snow said, due to privacy laws, she couldn't comment on whether Perkins had sought help at the Rochester Community Recovery Center.

Perkins, meanwhile, who was charged with felony unarmed robbery, continues to be held on $50,000 cash bail at Strafford County Jail.