(PRESS RELEASE) – Tonie Long, the current Four County ADAMhs Board Director of Quality Improvement, has been named the new ADAMhs Board Chief Executive Officer, effective January 1, 2024. She replaces the current CEO Rob Giesige who is retiring at the end of the December.
Long, an LSW with a masters degree in guidance and counselor education from the University of Toledo, has worked in a variety of mental health positions in the four county area since 1990. She has been with the ADAMhs Board since 2016.
Before that, the Swanton resident worked with Family Service of Northwest Ohio’s Four County Family Center office for 20 years as an outpatient therapist and more recently as the agency’s outreach supervisor.
In other action, the ADAMhs Board approved several contracts for the current fiscal year during its regular monthly meeting on Thursday, November 9, including a federally funded opioid and stimulant services contract that totals nearly $950,000.
Three local agencies will each share a portion of those funds to support opiate, cocaine and methamphetamine treatment for youth and adults. Recovery Services of Northwest Ohio will receive up to $372,650, Maumee Valley Guidance Center up to $285,767, and OhioGuidestone up to $285,767.
DARE contracts for school-based substance abuse awareness and education programs were approved for Defiance, Fulton, and Henry counties.
The Defiance County Sheriff’s Office will receive $7,500 to support DARE programming. The Fulton County Prosecutor’s Office will receive up to $6,500 and the Village of Fayette will receive up to $1,000 for school-based substance abuse programming.
And the Henry County Sheriff’s Office will receive up to $5,000 and the City of Napoleon will receive up to $4,000 for DARE programming.
The ADAMhs Board also approved an expenditure of up to $7,500 with Secure Telehealth to provide video conferencing and telemedicine visits for patients of board-funded agencies.
CEO Rob Giesige updated the board on several programs. The client transportation program continues to be well utilized with 467 transports totaling 6,883 miles provided during the six months that it has been in operation.
The board has budgeted up to $50,000 to pay existing transport organizations to provide rides for ADAMhs Board funded clients so they can get to medical appointments, jobs, grocery shopping and more.
Structural renovations have begun on what will become an eight bed women’s recovery housing facility operated by Recovery Services of Northwest Ohio on State Route 108 south of Wauseon.
Giesige also reported that the state has approved some $221,000 in funding for Arrowhead Behavioral Health to provide adult detox services for 11 Northwest Ohio ADAMhs Boards.
He said that this regional contract with Arrowhead has saved the Four County Board $20,000 to $40,000 a year since its inception.
The November meeting was the last for Diane Goyings who is retiring at the end of November. She has been the board’s Director of Finance and Administration since May 2010. Angelica Abels has been hired to fill the position.