Our View: Willes' story shows need for a detox center

There is no guessing how much Dorian Willes' hospitalization will cost.

There is also no guessing how much taxpayers will have to cover.

One thing is painfully clear. Willes' saga further demonstrates the need for detox and rehab services in the Treasure Valley - for the kind of treatment that could save lives and save taxpayer dollars.

Willes, 30, suffered 21 gunshot wounds during a June 5 standoff with Boise police officers. He remains at Saint Alphonsus Regional Medical Center, his hospital bills at $1 million and rising.

His story, chronicled Sunday by Statesman reporter Kathleen Kreller, illustrates both the byzantine nature of health care billing and the destructive power of methamphetamine.

The first $10,000 of Willes' bills, 1 percent of the overall tab so far, could come from a county indigent medical fund. A state catastrophic health fund could cover much of the bills - but Saint Al's could be forced to write off what's left, passing it on to other patients and insurers. (During the previous budget year, Saint Al's wrote off $288 million in health care bills, or a staggering $789,000 per day).

This monumental cost stems from Willes' addiction to methamphetamine, a battle that began three years before the standoff. Acting out of what his mother, Kay Willes, called "stupidity" and meth-induced "paranoia," Willes holed up in an apartment complex and allegedly pointed a soldering gun at police officers.

Willes recognized he needed help, and at one time he asked for it - but could not afford private treatment and could not find publicly funded care. While Willes struggled to battle his addictions, local elected officials and hospital administrators struggled publicly to scrape together the dollars to build and operate a community detox center.

Local officials may finally break ground later this year on a 12-bed detox center - a partnership including local hospitals; the United Way; Ada County; the cities of Boise, Meridian and Eagle; state government; and other groups. Collecting the $2.7 million to build the center is certainly worth celebrating, but it's only the beginning. It will take $1.8 million a year, to keep this center in operation - and wage a sustained campaign against meth.

This operating budget may sound like a lot of money, in a state where elected leaders are just starting to recognize the cost-effectiveness of treatment. Willes provides these elected officials with a chilling case study; $1.8 million sounds all the more like a bargain, when stacked against one patient's mounting hospital bills.

A detox center, focused largely on short-term sobering care, might not have helped Willes and prevented the events of June 5. But this detox center, which will also offer mental health services that dovetail into the problems of addiction, still promises a much-needed service. Meth - the powerful, relentless addiction that haunted Willes for years - requires a steadfast investment in care.

"Our View" is the editorial position of the Idaho Statesman. It is an unsigned opinion expressing the consensus of the Statesman's editorial board.