At most any strip mall, sitting between a jewelry store and an employment agency, you might expect to see a donut shop or a chiropractor’s office or maybe even a comic book store.
What you probably wouldn’t expect to see is a methadone clinic.
And yet, on Turlock’s south side, in the Lander Marketplace strip mall — 1651 Lander Ave. — sits Aegis Treatment Center’s newest medication unit.
While not a full-fledged clinic like those in Ceres and Modesto, the Turlock medication unit is open seven days a week from 6 to 11 a.m., helping patients battle severe addictions with liquid methadone or buprenorphine (Suboxone) tablets.
Turlock’s Aegis facility, though operational since late November, held its official grand opening on Wednesday, with Stanislaus County District 2 Supervisor Vito Chiesa stopping by, as well as representatives from the offices of Rep. John Duarte (R-Hughson) and Assemblyman Juan Alanis (R-Modesto).
In addition to Modesto and Ceres, Aegis has nearby clinics in Merced (with an associated MU in Los Banos), Manteca (Tracy MU), Fresno (Madera MU), and three in Stockton (Lodi MU). It has also opened a new medication unit in Sonora.
Dyana Inthavong, the executive director of the Ceres facility, said the 2,167-square-foot Turlock office is already serving more than 50 patients and is closing in on 100. Aegis, part of the Pinnacle Treatment Center network, has already leased an 1,100-square-foot office space next door with plans to expand to a full treatment facility in the future.
“Fentanyl use is on the rise and I don’t see it slowing anytime soon, “said Inthavong. “In the years that I’ve been here, seeing the progress in some of the clients is definitely rewarding. I’ve seen the transformations and it’s amazing what people can do with their lives.”
One of those amazing stories is Frank Silva, who overcame his addictions and is now a patient navigator with Aegis in Modesto.
“About 2006 when I first started attending college here in Turlock, I had some mental health issues that I wasn’t dealing with in a healthy manner,” said Silva, who battled anxiety and depression. “That kind of led me to begin experimenting and self-medicating.”
Silva started with Vicodin and then moved on to oxycontin and his addiction began to spiral.
“It got to the point where oxycontin was getting harder and harder to find on the streets,” said Silva. “So, the natural progression that most people find themselves in is heroin, and that’s where I was for a couple years, as well.
“There was a bottoming out and I could tell it was affecting with my peer groups, with my family. And I could tell if I didn’t make a change it was going to end up with me either being on the streets, being in jail or being dead. And when I came to that realization, I knew that I had to make a change.”
Silva tried to get clean several times and finally came to Aegis in 2011, where he began methadone maintenance.
“That’s really what got me onto the path to recovery,” said Silva.
Chiesa, the only elected official to attend the grand opening, spent nearly 30 minutes peppering the Aegis staff with questions about the operation.
“Bittersweet is a good word,” said Chiesa, who lauded Aegis’ work in the county while lamenting that fact that their services are so necessary. “This is the community we live in. The fentanyl, the opioid crisis is real and we can’t ignore it.
“The Turlock clinic makes a lot sense because Modesto and Ceres are in the central area of the county and it’s very difficult for people coming from 30 miles around, from different directions. The clientele are generally productive citizens who have jobs, and if they can still be productive citizens, that’s what we want. We want them to get better. We want to make our community better, and Aegis is a partner in that.”
According to data released at the Opioid Safety Coalition meeting last week, Stanislaus County recorded 121 fentanyl-related deaths in 2023, about on par with the 128 fentanyl-related deaths in 2022. However, the 2023 count is expected to continue rising as the county coroner’s office receives additional test results.
