Teal Lake project receives $300,000 from West End Health Foundation

NEGAUNEE, Mich. (WLUC) - On Thursday, Great Lakes Recovery Centers and the West End Health Foundation held a press conference to announce funding has been pledged to continue the transformation of their newest location in Negaunee into the John Kivela Center.

The area will be a 33,000-square feet residential treatment facility for women with substance use disorder issues, said GLRC CEO Greg Toutant.

“An 18-bed women’s inpatient treatment unit complete with detox services and women with children programming will also have a 10-bed transitional housing facility for ladies as they step down from primary treatment,” said Toutant.

Toutant also said the center, once finished, will separate itself from other recovery centers in the U.P. in many ways.

“Having one facility that can comprise medical access, opioid health home services, outpatient programming,” said Toutant. “We also will have inpatient programming; inpatient services and it really is about the whole person’s care to our clients and to the community.”

Toutant said this new center is being dedicated in memory of former State Representative John Kivela, who passed away in 2017. West End Health Foundation President Tom Edmark said Thursday they also pledged $300,000 to this project, which will be paid out over five years.

“We decided at our board meeting in January to go ahead,” said Edmark. “They were requesting $300,000 and we approved that amount at the January board meeting.”

Along with the funding pledged today, GLRC secured $2.8 million from the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services for the project. Toutant said they hope to finalize construction sometime between August and September.

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