Bangor detox beds: 10-bed unit shuts over funding gap

Wabanaki Public Health and Wellness will stop admitting patients to its 10-bed Cedar Road Detox Facility in Bangor as of Friday, Oct. 30, after a $1.2 million budget shortfall left the medically assisted withdrawal program without the federal dollars it relied on. The facility serves about 500 clients a year who are detoxing from opioids, alcohol and stimulants, including MaineCare recipients, both Indigenous and nonindigenous.

The program costs $3 million a year to run and typically collects $1 million in state reimbursement. Wabanaki Public Health and Wellness planned to cover the remaining $2 million with federal grants and other revenue. "Up until this year, we've been able to find federal funding, as well as other funding, philanthropic and private donors, to meet that gap," said co-CEO Lisa Sockabasin.

In early 2025, the Trump administration halted a swath of federal grants, cutting off dollars that paid for more than half of the organization's operations. Wabanaki Public Health and Wellness said at the time it had no other resources to replace that money. Sockabasin said the organization later clawed back some federal funding, but the process took time and resources from other work and did not produce enough to keep the program running.

Earlier this year, the federal government delayed opening grant applications. When the applications opened, Sockabasin said, interest flooded the system because groups that had lost other grant money were applying at once. Each federal grant can take more than 40 hours to compile, she said, and Wabanaki Public Health and Wellness submitted 12 in one month. It received some but not all of them.

Sockabasin said the detox center stopped taking new patients Friday, and current patients can stay until they are ready for discharge. She expects all 10 beds empty by the end of next week. The organization also informed 25 employees Friday that they are being laid off, a month after it let go of 20 other staff members.

"It was hard for them," Sockabasin said. "They are people who truly believe, not just in their work and what they do every day, but they're the ones that know the harm that's going to be caused by not having these beds available to people." She said the organization may have to consider additional closures, including its recovery housing.

Wabanaki Public Health and Wellness primarily serves four federally recognized tribes across five communities: the Houlton Band of Maliseet Indians, the Mi'kmaq Nation, the Passamaquoddy Tribe at Indian Township, the Passamaquoddy Tribe at Pleasant Point, and the Penobscot Nation. Its programs include medication-assisted treatment, case management, a peer-run recovery center, housing support, HIV testing, and a home visiting program for Indigenous children and families.