After months in transition, Clatsop Countys residential drug and alcohol treatment center has hired a new executive director, and, looking toward the future, he plans to get the 50-bed facility, which had its top leaders fired at the beginning of the year, back on mission.

In July, Sam Darcy took the reins of Astoria Pointe-Rosebriar, becoming its permanent CEO following the departure of Josie Herndon.

Herndon had served as the facilitys CEO, in what Darcy described as an interim basis, since the beginning of the year. As shareholders in the company, Herndon and her husband Jim took a leadership role in the wake of the last years firing of Larry Peterson and Milt Parham, who were Astoria Pointes chief executive officer and chief operations officer, respectively.

Darcy was recruited from Vista Taos Renewal Center, a boutique residential treatment facility in Taos, N.M., where he served as the executive director for nearly two years. He says he plans to bring some of the techniques he used running that facility to Astoria Pointe, which will involve expanding onsite services as well as the role of the on-call medical director.

I always want full-time medical every place I work that has residential (treatment), Darcy said. We hope to expand our services.

Along with Darcy, Dr. Merle Williamson, a Clackamas-based doctor who also works for the Hazelden Springbrook treatment facility in Newberg, will act as the medical director and on-call physician.

During the months when the Herndons ran the facility, Jim, a nurse, acted as the Astoria Pointes physicians assistant and treatment services director. He recruited Williamson to work for Astoria Pointe as the new medical director.

In a related move, a new physicians assistant will be hired at the facility in the coming weeks. The facilitys goal is to have five or six days of full staffing coverage and provide more reliable service, Darcy said.

In the past, there were times when no one at the facility could fill out prescriptions. Although most of the drugs prescribed at the facility are really benign, Darcy said, its important for practitioners who are prescribing drugs to be able to evaluate patients in person before doing so.

I see it as an opportunity to get as close to hospital-based care as possible, he said regarding the changes. He added that his goal is to provide 90 percent of the facilitys medical services in-house.

And piece-by-piece, each new move is intended to get Astoria Pointe back on track.

Darcys hiring represents one of the last stages in a rebuilding phase following the forced departures of Peterson and Parham, who worked at the facility since 2007 and 2008. Both came to Astoria Pointe from Lake Chelan, Wash., where they were employed at Lake Chelan Community Hospital. There, Peterson acted as the hospitals CEO for nine years, while Parham was the addiction recovery director.

Parham and Peterson were fired from Astoria Pointe late last year under a cloud of vague allegations. An internal investigation into the pair was never released publicly.

Peterson had been the subject of a separate investigation preceeding his departure from Lake Chelan Community Hospital. A report filed in Chelan County Superior Court in 2007, and unsealed in 2011, accused Peterson of having inappropriate business relationships with a board member, as well as engaging in sexual conduct with hospital employees.

The report stated that Peterson also spent hospital funds on business expenses and hired a significant other who was not qualified for the job, among a number of other findings.

Parham was discovered to have a felony charge of embezzling from health benefit plans he managed in the 1980s.

The full scope of the investigation into Peterson and Parham came to light shortly before Astoria Pointe fired the two.

At Astoria Pointe, the emphasis now is putting all of that behind the facility and moving forward. Some of the changes have already taken place.

While in an interim role, Josie and Jim Herndon worked to implement 24-hour nursing care and make the facility more accessible to insurance providers, Darcy said.

Still, a stay at Astoria Pointe doesnt come cheap: The first month at the treatment facility costs $10,500.

We want to keep the out-of-pocket expenses low, Darcy said. The facility will continue to donate five free community beds for people in recovery who couldnt afford them otherwise. But the demand for alcohol and drug treatment beds is so high that the facility still has a hell of a list for those beds.