Published: October 28, 2009 11:42 pm      

Pathways to break ground on new center

MOUNT STERLING — Pathways Inc. will break ground at 2:30 p.m. Friday on Hillcrest Hall, a $1.3 million male residential adolescent substance abuse treatment center.

Pathways, which covers 10 counties in northeast Kentucky, has operated Hillcrest Hall for 16 years in a leased facility. It provides services for adolescent males ages 13 to 18, addicted to drugs who have had at least one prior failed treatment attempt. The program is one of only two publicly funded adolescent residential treatment programs in Kentucky.

In 2005, Ernest Bean, a member of the Pathways board for 24 years, donated 16 acres of land near Mount Sterling for the construction of a state-of-the-art facility to replace the existing leased facility. Bean was founder and president of the Gateway Alliance for Mental Illness in Mount Sterling and a recipient of numerous awards including the Jack B. Smith Advocate Award, the Kentucky Alliance for Mental Health's highest award.

The Hillcrest Hall recovery program has experienced a strong demand for services during its 16 years of operation.

“There is almost always a waiting list,” said Dr. Kim McClanahan, chief executive officer for Pathways. “This new facility will allow us to provide improved services for these young men and their families.”

Construction of the facility has been made possible through financing from Community Trust Bank of Pikeville and the Federal Home Loan Bank of Cincinnati, Ohio. The new 9,000-square-foot facility is expected to be completed in the summer of 2010.

Pathways serves Bath, Boyd, Carter, Elliott, Greenup, Lawrence, Menifee, Montgomery, Morgan and Rowan counties.