YAKIMA, Wash. – Triumph Treatment Services in Yakima has announced a significant boost for its medical detox program. The nonprofit received a $6 million award spread over five years to support the initiative.
According to a feasibility report from Triumph, opioid-related deaths in Yakima County saw a staggering 998% increase between 2002 and 2004, continuing into last year.
Triumph says that the nearest active medical detox facility is currently over 100 miles away. In the first year of this new program, they expect to serve roughly 900 people.
This service is greatly needed, considering Triumph’s report of 220 opioid-related overdose deaths in the county last year.
A representative from Triumph Treatment Services emphasized the importance of having local services.
“We want to offer the services to the people of Yakima County here, where they live,” said Chief Medical Officer Dr. Jamie Simmons.
The struggle to stop using substances like fentanyl is compounded by severe withdrawal symptoms.
“With the fentanyl crisis, people are really hesitant to stop using fentanyl because of the agonizing withdrawal symptoms that they experience,” said Dr. Simmons.
Dr. Simmons explained that symptoms from a medically unsupervised detox can be both physically and emotionally challenging.
“[They experience] A horrifyingly painful withdrawal, symptoms that are excruciating, horrific emotional pain and physical pain, and the pain is so hard to endure that people will go back and use. People die from alcohol withdrawal. The same with benzodiazepines,” said Dr. Simmons.
However, help will soon be available locally in Yakima County.
“Medical detox provides 24-hour medical supervision with our in-staff physician staff and medications to ease the symptoms of withdrawal active management to make sure that they are safely withdrawing from the substances that they have been addicted to,” said Dr. Simmons.
The program aims to ease the burden on emergency departments dealing with substance-use disorder.
“We believe that we can divert those individuals from the emergency room straight into detox, reducing an already overburdened emergency room and get people into the treatment that they need in the right place at the right time,” said Dr. Simmons.
Funding is set to be allocated from the beginning of 2026 to the end of 2030. Triumph is currently searching for a facility to base the program, potentially at the county correctional facility. It will take about 18 to 24 months to get the program up and running. Until then, Triumph is providing peer specialists and a van to the closest detox program.
