Former Jack Stack Banquet facilities to become residential drug treatment center
By Kathy Feist
A Martin City gathering spot that once catered to partiers sipping champagne toasts will soon become a residential drug and alcohol detox center.
Midwest Recovery Centers has purchased the former Jack Stack Banquet facilities located at 136th and Holmes Rd. The property was put up for sales earlier this year after Jack Stack opened a newer banquet facility in Overland Park.
“We want to develop and promote to the Kansas City community a detox and residential services center,” said Jeff Howard, CEO of Midwest Recovery Center. “We are your hometown recovery center.”
The two 10,000 square feet banquet halls will soon become a state-of-the-art facility for those needing immediate assistance with drug or alcohol dependency. One building will house ten private rooms, a nursing station with 24-hour nursing staff, support staff, and an on-call physician. The other building will include a large group meeting hall, full kitchen with a nutritionist, and an exercise/yoga room. An outdoor garden/meditation area and a volleyball court completes the setting.
The Midwest Recovery Center, started by Howard in 2016, is located a few blocks up the road at 133rd and Holmes in two separate office buildings sharing the same parking lot, much like the layout of the banquet facilities. One serves as an administrative building while the other provides space for clients, families and community-based outpatient meetings.
Midwest Recovery Center inpatient clients live a structured schedule for 30 to 90 days in transitional housing located throughout Johnson County and Kansas City. Those in this recovery phase must attend group therapy 25 hours per week and an Alcoholics or Narcotics Anonymous meeting every day. There is also a weekly one-on-one counseling session and a required weekly urinalysis to ensure compliance with the center’s drug-free environment. Clients are slowly integrated back into the workforce while still attending group sessions.
“We say you are successful when you are one-year clean,” says Howard. Midwest Recovery Center has an 80% success rate, according to Howard. For clients who fell victim to their addiction, memorial benches will bear their names in the proposed memorial garden.
In the past, Midwest Recovery Center has had to refer patients in need of detox to other centers or hospitals. “We’ve had so many calls in need of immediate help that we’ve had to refer out,” says Howard. He says he is happy to now be able to accommodate some of those patients.
Howard, a former nurse and addict, says the timing is right. “The Covid impact has been horrendous for the addict,” says Howard. The American Medical Association recently announced that 40 states, including Missouri, have seen an increase in deaths this year due to overdose. Social distancing and the shutdown created an inclination to overindulge at home. “Addicts stayed in isolation because they are embarrassed how far they went with drinking or substance use,” says Howard. He says over 100,000 deaths this year have been from opioid overdose.
“A huge number of people are too embarrassed to get help. But it’s important for them to know, they are not alone,” says Howard. “Alcoholics and addicts can redeem themselves.”