Drug treatment facility for women coming to Staten Island

NEW YORK (FOX5NY.COM) - Women in New York dealing with drug addiction will soon have a new place to turn to help them kick the habit.

Angel Deruvo knows someone very close to her, her son, who continues battling his addiction. Thanks to Camelot of Staten Island—an all-male drug counseling and treatment facility—he is doing well today and is employed.

Now it is time for women addicted to drugs and alcohol to get the same fighting chance.

"It's a statement to society that it touches everyone—it touches all lives, it's not gender-specific," Camelot CEO Luke Nasta said. "And women need specialized services and they need to be protected and nurtured, supported and guided."

Nasta is a driving force for the first women's residential treatment program for substance abuse on Staten Island. It will be located in an abandoned building on Camelot's campus. It will have 25 beds—enough to provide individualized care.

Nasta the building renovation will cost millions of dollars. New York State is allocating $750,000 to help transform the building to help treat the growing number of women addicted to opioids.

"We're now seeing too many women having babies that are born addicted to heroin and opioids, just like the crack babies a generation ago," Lt. Gov. Kathy Hochul said.

The women's facility is expected to be completed in two to three years.