ABOUT PROVIDENCE VA MEDICAL CENTER
The Providence VA Medical Center is a 73-bed general medical, surgical, and psychiatric facility that serves veterans living in Rhode Island and southeastern Massachusetts.
Clients coming to this center for help with a substance use disorder can expect to find intensive and general outpatient programs and an opioid treatment program, according to a directory published by the VA. The facility’s website also notes that it provides “assistance in managing withdrawal symptoms,” though it is not clear whether this includes an inpatient detox program.
TREATMENT & ASSESSMENT
According to the facility’s addiction services website, treatment is multidisciplinary and highly individualized. The program’s goal is to treat the physical, social, and emotional effects of addiction while helping veterans refine and develop healthy coping skills. Treatment begins with a comprehensive evaluation that is used to create an individualized treatment program.
Medication-assisted treatment includes methadone, buprenorphine, naltrexone, Vivitrol, disulfiram, and acamprosate. The center’s course description lists individual and group therapy as clinical treatment.
The center can also refer clients to VA-sponsored sober-living facilities.
ACCOMMODATIONS & AMENITIES
There is currently no information provided by the facility regarding its living arrangements and related offerings, however, the three alumni polled by Best-rehabs.com gave four and five out of five stars for the facility’s accommodations & amenities, cleanliness, and meals & nutrition.
STAFF CREDENTIALS
According to the facility’s website, staff includes a clinical psychologist and licensed clinical social workers. As a general medical center, the facility also employs doctors and nurses. The three alumni polled to date on the staff’s level of training and experience all gave five out of five stars.
WHAT ALUMNI SAY
At the time of this writing there have been three alumni polled by Best-rehabs.com. All of the alumni, which include two anonymous male alumni and one female, D.E.F., gave generally positive reviews of the facility. The three alumni gave four and five stars for treatment effectiveness, accommodations & amenities, and meals & nutrition.
D.E.F. sought treatment at the facility for alcoholism. She stayed at the facility for three to six months, completed the program, and though she did relapse after six months, she was able to re-enter the program to establish sobriety again. She gave the facility five stars on all metrics polled on including staff support, training/availability/respect from the counselors, and inclusion of holistic as well as alternative approaches. She gave the facility an overall score of five stars and agreed that she would recommend the facility to friends or loved ones considering rehab or consider re-entering the facility again herself if ever needed.
The anonymous male alumni both agreed that family and loved ones were able to participate in treatment through facility programming; that there were many counseling options to choose from depending on the client’s preference; and that the admissions and discharge procedures were swift, organized, and clearly explained. Both alumni felt that a strength of the program was the good food offered and the friendly, professional staff. Neither identified any weaknesses of the program. Both strongly agreed that they would recommend this facility to a friend or loved one who was considering rehab.
Secondary reviews sites yielded mostly positive feedback concerning the VA hospital as a whole. On Facebook, where the center manages its own page, the facility has an average rating of 4.1 out of five stars, based on 250 reviews; on Google, 3.9 out of five stars based on 25 reviews; and on Yelp, two five out of five star reviews.
FINANCING
VA services are offered free of charge to qualifying veterans who were honorably discharged. In some instances, for example, if the medical difficulty is not related to the individual’s military service, or if the individuals earns above a certain income, clients may be required to pay a copay.
Updated April 2017