When sun filters through the Depression-era skylights at 349 E. 140th Street, Bronx men and women gather to perform Reiki, meditate and stay drug-free.
Men like Juan Cortez, who happened on Lincoln Recovery Center when he was 27-years old and beat a persistent addiction. Women like Colby Sims, who enrolled at Lincoln Recovery Center to reclaim her children but stayed to reclaim her soul. Like Jeannette Lopez, who harbored a heartache no dose of methadone could sooth.
Founded in 1970, Lincoln Recovery Center pioneered the use of unorthodox substance-abuse treatments such as acupuncture and has helped thousands escape addiction. But Lincoln Hospital, which administers Lincoln Recovery Center, plans to move the rehab operation from its four-floor building on E. 140th Street near Alexander Avenue to the basement of Belvis Diagnostic Treatment Center on E. 142nd Street in a matter of months.
Many Lincoln Recover Center alumni and some neighbors consider the move folly. The rehab operation would shed counselors and its outpatient character, Community Board 1 land use committee chair Mychal Johnson explained. Johnson lives on the same block as Lincoln Recovery Center.
“It helped transform the neighborhood,” he said. “But [Lincoln Hospital] wants to put it in a windowless basement. I would hate to see it pushed out.”
The E. 140th Street to Belvis move would offer Lincoln Recovery Center patients better access to healthcare, spokeswoman Renelda Higgins Walker of Lincoln Hospital said. At Belvis, the rehab operation would offer the same treatments it does today, Walker added. Perhaps the move would also boost patient counts for clinics already at Belvis.
Lincoln Recovery Center moved from Lincoln Hospital E. 140th Street in 1976 and dropped its methadone component to offer acupuncture and herbal treatments. Trained acupuncturists insert needles into the ears of patients who volunteer. The needles help patients relax and avoid withdrawal. Patients are also encouraged to drink herbal tea before bed. They benefit from one-on-one counselors and therapy groups.
Lincoln Recovery Center patients are referred to E. 140th Street by the city and state. Many are former prisoners. Lincoln Recovery Center launched a peer counselor program for addicted mothers in 1991. The operation considers peer support essential to rehab.
Lincoln Recovery Center caters to patients who speak only Spanish, hosts a quarter-century old Narcotics Anonymous session for neighbors and has trained more than 5,000 acupuncturists. Ten years ago, the rehab operation added a Reiki circle. Reiki, Japanese in origin, is best described as spiritual massage.
Lincoln Recovery Center weaned Cortez, 45, off methadone, he said. The Soundview resident was so impressed by the “needle work” he enrolled as a trainee. Cortez later landed a job as an acupuncturist.
“I highly recommend Lincoln Recovery Center,” he said. “[E. 140th Street] is a hot zone. I walked by, walked in and it changed my life. I never would have seen it stuck in a basement.”
Sims, 33, hated Lincoln Recovery Center when she started there. Only 25-years old, she planned to attend sessions only long enough to win back her children.
“I thought the acupuncture was bull crap,” the south Bronx-born Sims said. “I didn’t think I had a problem. I was embarrassed to be there.”
But Sims eventually warmed to her counselor and peers on E. 140th Street. She kicked her habit, completed a culinary arts course and catered for musicians such as Lil’ Kim and Fat Joe. Seven years later, Sims has her children, a $70,000 sales job, a condo in White Plains and a side business she owns.
“Look at me today – a successful African-American woman,” she said. “I have a job, food in my house. Only because of Lincoln. To move Lincoln to a smaller spot makes no sense. My mom got clean at Lincoln. The success rate there is so high. We need Lincoln.”
Jeannette Lopez, 42, graduated from nine months at Lincoln Recovery Center in November. Her 23-year old son passed away in 2008.
“The groups helped me stay clean,” Lopez explained. “I had a counselor at a methadone clinic but our only interaction was, ‘ten milligrams’ or whatever. I need people. I wanted to hear what people had to say about my son.”
Lopez, who lives near Yankee Stadium, shook her head at the planned move to Belvis.
“When we do Reiki, the sunlight is important,” she said.
Lincoln Recover Center has 37 employees. Lincoln Hospital has yet to decide how many, if any, would disappear, Walker said. The hospital has asked the New York State Office of Alcoholism and Substance Abuse Services (OASAS) to finance the move. It turned down OASAS funds to renovate the E. 140th Street building, Johnson said.
OASAS spokeswoman Diane Henk confirmed Lincoln Hospital’s request. The hospital chose not renovate on E. 140th Street, Henk said.
Reach reporter Daniel Beekman at 718 742-3383 or dbeekman@cnglocal.com
