ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – With a nurses’ station, pharmacy and private rooms, the Gateway Center’s new sobering center in Albuquerque may remind you of a hospital. 

It’s designed to take the burden off our emergency rooms. 

“We get a lot of calls from 311 individual passed out by a bus stop or park, and when first responders go out they’re completely intoxicated. So the only protocol they have in place right now is to take that individual to the ER,” said Gilbert Ramirez, the city’s director of Health, Housing and Homelessness.

He says they expect more than 18,000 people to come through each year, taking the strain off the ER and giving people a safe place to sober up. 

“As you come in the gurneys would come off they would call ahead of time to give our medical provider the data, background and what patient is receiving, and they’d be welcoming them there,” said Ramirez. 

The sobering center, which the city has been working on for years, offers a combination of 50 open beds, beds in private rooms and recliners. It will be open 24/7. 

However, right now, it will only operate with 10 available beds, hoping to open it up to full capacity this coming spring. It will be staffed with nurses, telehealth clinicians, and peer support workers. 

“We know this has been a little bit of a long time coming, we acknowledge that. The amazing thing is that this is actually real. Frankly, it’s a little hard to believe. It’s a moment of gratitude, it’s a moment of hope,” said Mayor Tim Keller. 

Ramirez says people can stay and sober up for 24 hours. Then, they’ll be able to get additional resources without leaving the Gateway. 

“We have a state detox facility who’s a tenant of ours downstairs Turquoise Lodge. We have Zia Behavioral, they do in patient outpatient treatment,” said Ramirez.

That soft opening for the sobering center will happen next month with those 10 available beds. 

Ramirez says their healthcare partner has to get the medical professionals placed to hit that goal of operating at full capacity next year.