Groups Combine To Better Serve Boro
By VERONICA LEWIN
A new partnership between two Queens based organizations could make it easier for people of all ages to get substance abuse treatment close to home. Outreach and Samaritan Village announced earlier this month that the two organizations will work together to offer unique treatment services to the borough.
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| Kathleen Riddle, president and CEO of Outreach, and Tino Hernandez, president and CEO of Samaritan Village. |
Outreach, established in the borough in 1980, is an alcohol and substance abuse treatment center based in Richmond Hill. The organization, with locations in Brooklyn and Long Island as well, offers the largest chemical dependency treatment in the state. Outreach specializes in serving children, adolescents and women.
For the last three decades, Outreach has chosen to keep their main offices in Queens. “We’re committed to being headquarted in Queens,” Riddle said. She added the increasing lack of hospitals in the borough made it necessary to establish an alliance with another long-established substance abuse center based in Queens to ensure services would not be lost.
Samaritan Village has been providing care to Briarwood and beyond for nearly 50 years. The organization offers treatment programs at 10 locations throughout the five boroughs and upstate New York. Samaritan Village offers residential and outpatient treatment, medication-assisted treatment and three nationally recognized gender-specific veterans programs. The organization also administers single adult and family shelters, support services for veteran families and an active senior center.
“This partnership is based on a careful analysis of the value and strengths of our respective agencies,” Samaritan Village President and CEO Tino Hernandez said in a statement. “We are especially excited about the potential of this initiative to enhance the outstanding work currently being done by both agencies’ staff.”
Riddle said the partnership will make it easier for people in the borough to get the help they need. Instead of calling around asking what services are provided, callers can make one call to Outreach or Samaritan Village to get the services they need. For more information call (718) 847-9233 or (718) 206-2000.
Reach Reporter Veronica Lewin at vlewin@queenspress.com or (718) 357-7400, Ext. 123.