T-R PHOTO BY LANA BRADSTREAM SATUCI Executive Director Jenny Etter and Clinical Director Darcy Maiden-Parks sit outside the building half of which the nonprofit has occupied for the past 40 years. After Center Associates relocated to the south side of town, the other half of the facility has been empty, but SATUCI recently acquired it after merging with Prairie Ridge Integrated Behavioral Healthcare.

SATUCI has served Marshalltown and surrounding areas for more than 40 years, offering treatment for substance abuse, gambling, DUI/OWI and various counseling services for adults and youth. On Oct. 1, it will merge with Mason City-based Prairie Ridge Integrated Behavioral Healthcare to become Prairie Ridge South.

“We have an annual budget of $1.8 million and a staff of 20,” said SATUCI Executive Director Jenny Etter. “They have a budget of $23 million and a staff of about 160. We will be able to do all the expansion we’ve wanted to do: more veterans’ services, more services at the Meskwaki Settlement — services we’re not able to do because we just don’t have the staff and funding.”

SATUCI serves Marshall, Tama, Poweshiek and Hardin counties with offices in Marshalltown, Tama, Grinnell and Eldora.

“This merger will enable us to do substance abuse and mental health services throughout all of those counties and have those offices staffed more and open more,” she added. “Being affiliated with Prairie Ridge, we’ll also be a mental health center, we’ll have residential services (in Mason City), and we’ll have a huge expanded prevention program and medication services.”

In addition to the merger, SATUCI’s physical footprint is expanding.

“Next Wednesday — Aug. 31 — we’re purchasing the other half of our building from Center Associates, who moved out, so we’ll be able to expand and hire more staff,” Etter said.

Prairie Ridge Executive Director Lorrie Young said her organization has been considering this acquisition for some time.

“Prairie Ridge and SATUCI have been partners in our field for many years,” Young said. “This is something we’ve talked about off and on for probably the last 15 years, and the timing just never felt right. With some of the changes happening at the state level — changes in how funding is going to look for behavioral healthcare — the timing seemed to line up now. We’ve strengthened both organizations by partnering together.”

Young complimented SATUCI’s passion and dedication to its clients, plus its knowledgeable staff.

“This allows us to share resources more effectively. Prairie Ridge is one of nine organizations in the State of Iowa that was selected by Iowa Health and Human Services to serve as a state-designated Certified Community Behavioral Health Center — CCBHC,” Young noted. “The CCBHCs really have a mission and an obligation to provide a higher level of integrated care than traditional behavioral healthcare organizations. There’s a stronger focus on collecting data and reporting data and analyzing data related to outcomes around integrated care, really looking at substance use disorder, mental health and physical health components in an individual’s life, and kind of bringing all of that together. And so with this move, that also pulls SATUCI under that CCBHC umbrella.”

While it may take some time for the public to adjust to SATUCI’s new name, Etter said she welcomes the change.

“A lot of people didn’t know what SATUCI was anyway. It sounds like a strange dance,” Etter said with a laugh. “The acronym really didn’t suit us anymore — Substance Abuse Treatment Unit of Central Iowa. The only thing that was really accurate is Central Iowa. We don’t have residential treatment, and we don’t just do substance abuse. We do mental health and many other things. Our name really didn’t talk about what we do in a way that was inclusive. Our website will have more information and a link directly to Prairie Ridge so people can understand the whole picture.”

Etter said the merger comes at an ideal time in her 45-year career.

“I’m retiring at the end of the year. I will be a consultant after I retire to help with grant writing and special projects mainly. This is ending my career on such a great note. I couldn’t have asked for more,” she said.

Previously, Etter ran DVA (Domestic Violence Alternatives) in Marshalltown then moved to the Quad Cities to run a program there.

“I was gone for like 38 years,” she said. “I moved back home when my parents were getting older and needing care.”

She served as executive director of the Marshalltown Central Business District (MCBD) from 2012-2019 then moved over to SATUCI.

Young added that SATUCI’s and Prairie Ridge’s policies and procedures are nearly aligned.

“I think what this partnership does is bring to the table some of Prairie Ridge’s resources to assure that SATUCI stays strong and viable into the future,” she said.

Etter noted the public would reap benefits from the best of both agencies.

“You have to be creative when you don’t have much resources. We’re used to that, so this is like heaven for us. Having more resources and more staff will be absolutely wonderful,” she said.