PORTLAND — Gov. Paul LePage paid a visit Monday to Serenity House, a substance abuse treatment center that faced closure due to proposed budget cuts last Spring.
LePage, who helped restore funding to maintain Serenity House and other residential programs, talked with about a dozen men who live at the treatment center and then with the agency’s managers and board of directors. Both groups told the governor that residential treatment, and especially Serenity House, saves lives and money by treating acloholism and drug addiction.
“Serenity House has saved lives – many, many lives,” Ryan Fitzherbert, a resident, told the governor. “A lot of miracles happen here.”
The governor’s visit grew out of meetings held during the budget process. LePage called Serenity House a model for other agencies, but gave no promises about future state funding.
LePage said his administration is conducting a review of agencies this summer to determine what is working and what isn’t.
“Show me the value of your product,” LePage said. “You can show it. Many of them can’t.”
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