In 2018, Brock Milligan was in a detox bed in Des Moines. Now, he serves as the senior development and community relations coordinator for ThriveNow Recovery Centers, an addiction treatment center located in Pleasant Hill, Des Moines.
“It’s a lot more fun to be on this side of it,” he said. “It is the most rewarding and fulfilling job that I can imagine. It gets pretty heavy at times, but I can’t imagine doing anything differently.”
On April 22, Milligan’s job covered more ground. ThriveNow opened its second facility in Iowa City, just months after its Des Moines facility opened in December.
The goal is to have a total of 110 beds available within the year, with 50 allocated to the Des Moines location and 60 allocated to Iowa City.
Brandon George, chief strategy officer of Ascension Recovery Services, which oversees ThriveNow, explained that bringing Ascension’s services to Iowa was a no-brainer.
“Iowa is widely known as a treatment desert,” he said. “A lot of folks from Iowa have to go to other states in order to get care. And so the more we started digging in, the more we found out that there’s really a big need here.”
A study from the Treatment Advocacy Center found that in 2023, Iowa had two psychiatric hospital beds per 100,000 people. Far below the recommended 50 beds per 100,000. Iowa ranks last in the nation for psychiatric beds available per 100,000 residents.
Johnson County Public Health Educator Susan Vileta reinforced that behind the statistic lie real people struggling with substance abuse.
“If somebody is ready, if something is ready to change their life, or they’re at that point where they want to take a different step, and somebody says, ‘Well, I have a bed tomorrow. I have a bed a week from now.’ What does that person do today when they’re ready today?” she asked.
George recalls when ThriveNow opened its first location in December. The community’s need for aid was apparent on day one.
“There were 300 calls in just one week,” he said. “And a lot of those folks that had to get on the waitlist didn’t just go find another provider, there’s nowhere else to go. And so the need for it in the community has really been overwhelming.”
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Looking ahead to the new facility, George is excited about ThriveNow’s partnership with local hospitals, including Unity Point and the University of Iowa’s hospital system. He knows the residents will appreciate the clean, healthy environment.
“If you were to go to a lot of detox or treatment facilities, not just in Iowa, but around the nation, they’re dingy, they’re old, they’re uncapped, they’re not representative of other health care facilities where there’s nice accommodations,” he said. “Our places are beautiful, they’re clean, they’re welcoming.”
Gorge also looks forward to continuing ThriveNow’s emphasis on being inclusive of all clients, regardless of income.
In Iowa, three managed care organizations (Iowa Total Care, Molina Healthcare, and Wellpoint Iowa) administer Medicaid services. While many treatment centers pick and choose which they accept, ThriveNow prides itself for serving all three.
“The very first question hospitals ask is, ‘Yeah, but are you going to take Medicaid?’ Because they’re used to every treatment provider just trying to go after the folks with money,” George said. “And we are very proud of the fact that with every facility we open, we serve everybody.”
Residents struggling with substance abuse can reach ThriveNow by calling (515) 824-5154.