The Ellen O’Brien Gaiser Center’s inpatient treatment program was recognized as a Center of Excellence by the Pennsylvania Department of Human Services Friday.

The Ellen O’Brien Gaiser Center’s inpatient treatment program was recognized as a Center of Excellence by the Pennsylvania Department of Human Services Friday.

According to Joseph Mahoney, executive director of the center, the recognition places the recovery center in an elite group of high-quality facilities.

“Overall, this will help us enable more individuals to find pathways to recovery and breaking down more barriers to recovery,” he said.

The Center of Excellence initiative was created to help alleviate the opioid crisis facing Pennsylvania as of 2016. According to the Department of Human Services, 10 people a day are lost to a substance abuse addiction.

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