MARION, SC (WBTW) – The Trinity Behavioral Care Organization, also known as, Marion County Commission on Alcohol and Drug Abuse is set to expand in the midst of the opioid epidemic.

Donny Brock, Executive Director of Trinity says in less than two years the organization went from 12 opioid patients to 300. Now they need a more modern building to help treat the growing number of patients.

“We have a capacity of 300 and we’re really scrambling to get everyone that needs to come into the program in,” he said.

Brock says it’s time to expand to help even more people in Marion, Dillon and Marlboro county.

“A few weeks ago we had six pregnant ladies on opioids come to us in about a 12 day period. All of which wanted to get help,” said Brock. “You’re talking about affecting lives… turn around someone who is actually pregnant you may be affecting multiple lives.”

The group has a combined total of just over one million dollars to build a state of the art facility off of Highway 501.

The Marion County Healthcare Foundation contributed $400,000.

Trinity Behavioral Care also received $650,000.00 in South Carolina Department of Alcohol and Other Drug Abuse Services (DAODAS). Brock says the funding would not be possible without the assistance of Senator Kent Williams, Representative Lucas Atkinson, Roger Kirby, and former Representative Wayne George.

The Department of Health and Environmental Control (DHEC)  ranks Marion county fourth in the state for opiate affected counties, based on the number of deaths,  overdoses, and DUIs.

“Horry County is the epicenter of the state and we’re between Horry and I95,” said Brock.

But it’s not just the needs Brock says the current historic building is not handicap accessible and is falling apart.

“The maintenance on a building like this is rather extreme,” said Brock.

The organization is excited to build a new facility to offer more services to the area.

“For me, the most exciting thing is actually having a building designed for what we do,” said Brock. “It’s one thing to have an old building that you retrofit. It’s another to have a building designed for the exact functions that you are doing.”

The plan is to break ground in March in hopes to have the building complete by January of 2019.