The vision of Buena Vista Health and Recovery Centers is “to restore and enhance the lives of individuals affected by substance use disorder through the delivery of hospitality and world-class healthcare.”
The center has successfully established itself as a premier treatment provider. “There are a lot of places where people can go in the Valley, here in the Metro Phoenix area and even in the surrounding states,” says Chief Medical Officer Dr. Paul R. Valbuena. “I think what’s unique about Buena Vista is that we have a multi-site campus, and we’re really invested in a continuum of care.”
Headquartered in Scottsdale, Arizona, the center has treatment locations in Tucson, Chandler, Scottsdale, and Cave Creek, with approximately 240 employees and a total of 157 patient beds. “140 of those beds are all private rooms with private bathrooms,” says Director of Sales and Marketing James Rich. “I think we’re the only recovery center in the state that offers private rooms and private bathrooms, especially to Medicaid patients.”
Buena Vista offers care to these patients as well as those who have the ability to pay via other means. “We do drug and alcohol treatment, rehab treatment for all levels of care, and we do take all insurances,” Rich explains.
Providing a continuum of care means that patients are supported for the long term, rather than just through the initial detoxification process. “We all know that addiction doesn’t stop with a detoxification process,” Dr. Valbuena says. “This is really a continuum of care where we are invested in not only detoxing, but also stepping down the different levels of care.”
After the initial detox care, which typically lasts between five and seven days, patients can receive residential care, “which is typically 30 days or more in treatment as they continue on their journey of sobriety,” he says. “They stay with us, and they program—we instill long lasting tools they can use to achieve their individual treatment plan goals set forth by the client and the client’s treatment team. They sleep there; they eat there.” Patients live onsite around the clock until they complete the program.
“After completion of the initial level of care of detoxification—nailing down the backbone of sobriety and giving them the tools—there is a level of care that they’re stepped down to after that,” Dr. Valbuena says. “And that’s a partial hospitalization program, which essentially means they can live at home or they can live in sober living, but they would come back to us during the day five days a week, and program just like they were in the residential program,” he explains.
“And then the next level of care would be what is called an intensive outpatient service, which is after PHP [partial hospital program] has been met,” he continues. “This step can last up to two months, but everybody’s different. People can be stepped down quicker than others, depending on their readiness.” Ultimately, patients move on to an outpatient service program where they are connected with individual therapy.
This multi-step approach includes much-needed access to medical treatment, making care more holistic. “We are very well-rounded with nursing and medical care,” says Dr. Valbuena. “We not only treat your acute addiction and addiction diseases of all types, we also treat psychiatric comorbidities, whether it be major depression, PTSD, anxiety—all the things that you would do in an outpatient psychiatric clinic—as well as medical comorbidities like hypertension, diabetes, anything you get [care for] from the PCP. So, we’re really hitting it from all fronts because I think that the crux of recovery is not just concentrating on addiction; it’s really a well-rounded approach from all angles and wellness for the patient.”
A team of dedicated medical staff makes this holistic approach possible. “We have a great team of medical professionals led by Physicians and Nurse Practitioners specializing in addiction and psychiatry. We have 24/7 nursing on-site at all three campuses.” Buena Vista’s robust team includes licensed addiction counselors and therapists, many of whom are specifically trained in trauma therapy and dialectical behavior therapy (DBT).
Another level of support staff includes discharge planners and social workers who help with patient placement. “Unfortunately, there’s a pretty good amount who are homeless who may have no resource,” Dr. Valbuena says. “So, we have a lot of case managers and social workers that support the transition of each patient at whatever level they need, whether it be helping with housing, or with insurance, or coordinating appointments. So, whenever there is a step down or even a discharge from our campus, they’re set up with resources, but it’s always recommended that they continue with treatment because it is a lifelong journey to achieve that goal of complete sobriety.”
This team is committed to community outreach. “We have these three amazing women who are a part of our business development team: Katie, Lisa, and Etna,” says Rich. “They are absolutely fantastic. They do community outreach, working with other recovery centers to find individuals who need help finding the right services for them, and then they also do outreach in the sense that they go to where different homeless populations congregate.” The women offer these vulnerable groups of people everything from the center’s services to meals, water, and blankets.
The team is also committed to sharing knowledge in order to help patients. The center’s Vice President of Medical Services has helped develop a patient acuity tool, “which is used to really find the right level of care for patients at our facilities, and also so that other centers can help patients get the right level of care for them,” he says. “It’s a really amazing tool that we are hoping will help create more standardization for patient acuity.”
If this acuity tool determines that Buena Vista is not the best fit for the patient, the team has the contacts within the industry to guide these patients where they need to go. “In the event that our program is not appropriate or may not fit their specific needs, our team has a network with a number of other resources in the Valley to help them,” Dr. Valbuena says.
With so much to offer patients—and so many people in need—the team is eager to grow Buena Vista. “It’s still a highly underserved community in need of help,” says Dr. Valbuena, and the team is eager to expand its outpatient programs, possibly in the West Valley or North Phoenix area. “I do think that access and location is important for a lot of people in the community.” However, determining the best location to meet that need is not always clear. “It’s really kind of a moving target.”
Wherever the next location, it will deliver the well-rounded approach for which Buena Vista is known. “I do think that our vision of curing rather than just putting a Band-Aid on the addiction need is important,” he says. And so is providing this care to as many patients as possible. “Our vision is to really provide access to all.”
