LISTEN – I wish this was fake news –
Dec. 18, 2020 – Rick Ganley: Yeah, and per your reporting this week, clients and staff say a lot of this could have been prevented if the company had just been prepared for it.
Lauren Choolijan: Yeah, exactly. And I should say more tips have been coming into my inbox ever since the story came out. And I also want to add that Granite Recovery Center CEO Eric Spofford has said that his company has been complying with CDC guidelines since the beginning of the pandemic. Granite Recovery Centers is the company that manages Green Mountain Treatment Center and a bunch of other treatment properties around the state. But despite my many attempts, Spofford and his press spokesperson have declined to respond to these complaints from clients and staff.
Rick Ganley: We mentioned that Granite Recovery Centers is one of the biggest providers in New Hampshire. The state has spent millions fighting drug addiction in recent years. What’s the company’s relationship like with the state?
Lauren Choolijan: Yeah, so Granite Recovery Centers plays a pretty big part in New Hampshire’s response to addiction. And CEO Eric Spofford is pretty well known. His company receives a significant amount of state funding. I mean, one go to example is this no bid contract they got in 2019 for respite beds. They were awarded $1 million by the state. And as I understand it, that money wasn’t conditional on filling those beds. It was just to have them available for people who are homeless or waiting for a spot to open up at a treatment center.
And Spofford has really made himself available to kind of bail out the state when it’s in a tough spot. Like listeners might remember the back and forth over the homeless encampment in Manchester about a month ago. Many news outlets reported that the state actually called Eric Spofford for help. And he went out to the encampment in Manchester himself and offered beds to people. And he ended up moving some of them. I’m not sure how many, but he moved them to one of the properties he runs in Derry.
Rick Ganley: Okay, so there is a relationship here between the state and Garntie Recovery Centers. Has the state mentioned anything about your reporting this week?
