Norwich — Nearly a year of “patching" services together to help Norwich area methadone patients get to clinics in New London or Willimantic is nearly over, as the rebuilt Norwich methadone clinic at 772 W. Thames St. prepares to reopen in mid-January after extensive renovations.

The clinic, which serves more than 500 clients per day, closed suddenly Jan. 25, 2019, after renovation workers discovered structural flaws in the second floor of the building. The closure prompted human services agencies from the greater Norwich area to meet to coordinate transportation for the 553 people using methadone as part of their addiction recovery.

Renovations are nearly completed at the building, owned by Hartford Dispensary Real Estate Inc., which received a certificate of occupancy by the Norwich Building Department Dec. 20. A ribbon-cutting ceremony for the reopening is scheduled for 10 a.m. Jan. 13 with state and local dignitaries and service providers expected to attend.

But Root Center Chief Financial Officer Christine Geraci said the exact opening date cannot be scheduled until the renovated center receives a new state license from the state Department of Public Health, followed by approval from the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration and the state Department of Social Services. Geraci hopes the center will open in mid-January.

“We at the Root Center are very anxious to get our patients back in Norwich,” Geraci said Tuesday. “We were very fortunate we had both the New London and Willimantic clinics able to handle our clients.”

Geraci said it worked out that about 50 percent of the Norwich center’s daily clients traveled to the Willimantic clinic and 50 percent to New London for methadone treatments in the past year. The Norwich center, with its expanded space, will be able to bring all clients back to its intensive outpatient program. In the future, Geraci said, the Norwich facility might be able to expand and offer other medicated assisted treatment programs.

Geraci said offering a clean, new treatment facility in Norwich could help clients in their approach to recovery, as well. “If you feel good about the place you walk into, you’re going to feel good about yourself,” she said.

With an “opening soon” sign at the property and evidence that major construction is winding down, Geraci said the Root Center is getting calls on when it will reopen, including from United Way wanting to update its 211 information line referral service for methadone treatment centers.

“We have a lot of community-based partners,” Geraci said.

Lee Ann Gomes, director of Norwich Human Services and a member of the Norwich Heroin Task Force, says she very much looks forward to the Norwich clinic reopening.

Local service agencies cobbled together a network of transportation services for clients needing to travel roughly 30 minutes to New London or Willimantic. Free grant-funded van rides were offered daily from the St. Vincent de Paul Place at 120 Cliff St. in Norwich. Agencies offered bus tickets and even taxi rides when no alternatives were available, including on icy days when the van didn’t run.

“We patched it together,” Gomes said.

Gomes said local agencies were in contact with the Root Center weekly at first to coordinate services and later monthly as clients and service providers settled into the new routine.

Coordination will continue as the Norwich center prepares to reopen, Gomes said, first with the clients who went to New London coming back and then the Willimantic group.

“We know it was hard on them,” Gomes said of the Root Center. “They’ve gotten it together.”

c.bessette@theday.com