Private medical detox for Fort Lauderdale — 40 minutes, then straight into treatment.

For Fort Lauderdale patients — Las Olas, Coral Ridge, Wilton Manors, Rio Vista — RECO Island is 40 minutes north on I-95 in Delray Beach. Detox here is physician-led, nurse-staffed 24/7, and titrated to validated withdrawal scales (CIWA-Ar for alcohol, COWS for opioids) rather than fixed-schedule dosing. The residential phase begins the day detox ends, under the same clinical team on the same campus — no discharge to a phone number, no waitlist gap between levels of care.

Fort Lauderdale sits 26 miles south of RECO Island’s Delray Beach campus — roughly 40 minutes up I-95 from Las Olas, Victoria Park, Coral Ridge, Rio Vista, or Wilton Manors. That distance matters clinically: short enough that family stays involved and step-down PHP is commutable without relocation, long enough that the residential environment is genuinely separated from the neighborhoods, prescribers, and drinking circles tied to active use. For Fort Lauderdale patients presenting with alcohol, benzodiazepine, opioid, or polysubstance withdrawal, RECO Island provides physician-led, nurse-staffed 24/7 medical detoxification with direct in-house transition to residential care — no third-party handoff, no waitlist between levels.

When medical detox is the clinical indication

Medical detox is indicated when withdrawal risk crosses from mild-uncomfortable into moderate-to-severe — the range in which unsupervised withdrawal carries measurable morbidity or mortality. That threshold is typically reached in alcohol use disorder with sustained heavy consumption, prior withdrawal seizures or delirium tremens, benzodiazepine dependence at therapeutic or supratherapeutic doses, opioid use disorder with daily use in a fentanyl-adulterated supply, and any polysubstance combination of the above. Stimulant-only withdrawal is rarely medically dangerous, but supervised support during the crash phase — dysphoria, hypersomnia, suicidal ideation — has clinical value and is offered when indicated.

Level-of-care assignment follows the ASAM Criteria across all six dimensions: acute intoxication and withdrawal potential, biomedical conditions, emotional/behavioral/cognitive conditions, readiness to change, relapse potential, and recovery environment. Dimension 1 alone does not determine admission — a patient with a stable withdrawal picture but active suicidal ideation, an unmanaged psychiatric comorbidity, or a dangerous home environment may still meet medical necessity for a 3.7 or 4.0 level. Intake is diagnostic, not administrative.

For referring clinicians in Broward County — hospital case managers at Broward Health and Holy Cross, outpatient psychiatrists on Las Olas, primary care in Wilton Manors — the practical question is usually whether the patient can safely detox at home or needs an inpatient bed. That determination hinges on prior withdrawal history, medical comorbidity, and support at home, not on patient preference.

Symptom-triggered protocols using validated withdrawal scales

CIWA-Ar — the Clinical Institute Withdrawal Assessment for Alcohol, revised — scores ten symptom domains (nausea, tremor, sweats, anxiety, agitation, tactile/auditory/visual disturbances, headache, orientation) at defined intervals. Benzodiazepines — typically lorazepam or chlordiazepoxide — are administered when the score crosses treatment threshold rather than on a fixed clock. COWS — the Clinical Opiate Withdrawal Scale — does the same for opioid withdrawal across eleven domains, guiding buprenorphine induction and adjunctive clonidine, ondansetron, and loperamide dosing.

Symptom-triggered dosing reduces total benzodiazepine or opioid exposure, shortens the detox course, and produces cleaner autonomic trajectories than fixed-schedule regimens — findings replicated across multiple randomized trials since the 1990s. It is the current standard of care, and it requires trained nursing running scales at bedside every 2-4 hours through the acute window. RECO Island’s nursing model is built around that requirement rather than adapted to it.

For patients with severe alcohol use disorder and a documented seizure history, phenobarbital-based protocols are used in place of or alongside benzodiazepines. For opioid detox, buprenorphine-naloxone is the workhorse induction agent; methadone taper is available where clinically indicated. Every medication decision is documented against the underlying scale score.

Medical evaluation and comorbidity management

Every admission includes a physician history and physical, medication reconciliation, and a baseline lab panel — CBC, CMP, LFTs, TSH, urine drug screen, urine pregnancy where indicated, EKG where cardiovascular risk warrants (chronic alcohol use, methamphetamine use, QT-prolonging medications). Vitals are trended q2-4h through the acute withdrawal window. Thiamine 100 mg IV or IM is given empirically to alcohol-use patients before glucose to prevent Wernicke encephalopathy.

Chronic conditions do not pause during detox. Hypertension, type 2 diabetes, hepatitis C, cirrhosis, seizure disorder, and cardiac disease are actively managed by the on-site medical team throughout the stay. Appropriately prescribed psychiatric medications — sertraline for depression, aripiprazole or lithium for bipolar disorder, quetiapine or olanzapine for mood stabilization and sleep, buspirone for anxiety — are continued or restarted with dose adjustments as clinically indicated. Nutrition, hydration, and sleep are treated as clinical variables, not amenities.

Psychiatric evaluation occurs during the detox stay, not after. PHQ-9 and GAD-7 are administered at intake and again as withdrawal resolves, because a patient in acute withdrawal will score every scale as severely depressed and anxious — the diagnostic signal is what remains at day 5-7. Where OCD or ADHD are on the differential, YBOCS and ASRS are added.

The transition into residential or PHP without gaps

The single highest-risk moment in a detox stay is the day the patient transitions out. Nationally, most detox-only admissions do not proceed to a next level of care; those patients relapse at rates approaching baseline within 30 days. The clinical intervention that changes that trajectory is a same-organization handoff, planned at admission rather than negotiated on day five.

At RECO Island, medical detox and residential are staffed and licensed under the same organization on the same Delray Beach campus. The primary therapist assigned during detox continues into residential. The treatment plan authored on day one continues into day one of residential. No transfer packet to an outside provider, no waitlist for a bed elsewhere, no clinical information lost between organizations. For Fort Lauderdale patients and their families, that continuity is the reason to drive 40 minutes rather than admit to a local detox that discharges with a phone number.

The residential phase folds in evidence-based psychotherapy — CBT for craving management and cognitive restructuring, DBT for emotion regulation and distress tolerance, EMDR and prolonged exposure for trauma when trauma is driving use, motivational interviewing throughout, ACT for values-based recovery. Medication-assisted treatment continues where indicated: buprenorphine or naltrexone for opioid use disorder, naltrexone or acamprosate for alcohol use disorder.

What to expect on admission from Fort Lauderdale

Most Fort Lauderdale admissions arrive by car — a 40-minute drive up I-95 or Federal Highway from Las Olas, Coral Ridge, or Rio Vista. Transportation from home, from Broward Health or Holy Cross emergency departments, or from Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport can be arranged when needed. Same-day intake is available for medically appropriate cases; there is no waitlist for the detox unit.

The first 90 minutes on campus are structured: nursing intake and vitals, physician evaluation and orders, labs drawn, initial CIWA-Ar or COWS, medication reconciliation, room assignment. Personal belongings are inventoried; contraband screening follows Joint Commission and DCF-Florida standards. Family contact information is confirmed and, with patient consent under 42 CFR Part 2, a designated family member is briefed by clinical staff within 24 hours.

Insurance and admissions from Broward County

RECO Island works with most major commercial carriers active in South Florida — Florida Blue and other BCBS plans, Aetna, Cigna, UnitedHealthcare, and Humana. Benefits are verified before admission; the specific out-of-pocket estimate — deductible remaining, coinsurance, per-diem authorization — is provided in writing before any financial commitment. Medical necessity documentation is submitted concurrently so authorization does not delay the detox bed.

For Fort Lauderdale families comparing options across Broward and Palm Beach counties, four questions separate medical detox from social-model detox: physician on site or on call, nurse-to-patient ratio, use of validated withdrawal scales, and whether residential care is same-organization or a referral. Ask them.

Serving residents of: Las Olas, Victoria Park, Coral Ridge, Rio Vista, Wilton Manors.