Going Mobile to Better Reach People Misusing Substances

VTDigger is well positioned to work with Vermont Care Partners to promote the much needed services of its sixteen respective member agencies which, includes NCSS. They also understand how important it is for our elected officials to know how to support the needs of vulnerable Vermonters.   

This thirteen week series is a collaboration produced by members of the Vermont Care Partners statewide network of sixteen non-profit, community-based agencies providing mental health, substance use and intellectual and developmental disability support.

Below is the fifth installment of the series from the Howard Center that focuses on providing mobile services to address opioid use disorder and overdoses in the community.  

Excerpts from article

“Since the pandemic started the frequency of overdoses has been heartbreaking. We need to reach people who can’t get to our brick-and-mortar sites,” said Grace Keller, Director of Howard Center’s Safe Recovery program where the mobile clinic will be based.

Keller explains the need for mobile outreach by pointing to Vermont Department of Health statistics showing that out of the estimated 15-20,000 Vermonters who have Opioid Use Disorder, only about 9,000 are in treatment. And those who are not in treatment are at tremendous risk. Between 2016 and 2020, nearly three-quarters of the Vermonters who lost their lives in an overdose had never been treated for Substance Use Disorder.

The addition of mobile services is the latest step in the evolution of Vermont’s treatment system for people with Opioid Use Disorder that began with the opening of the state’s first opioid treatment program in 2002 and later the statewide Hub and Spoke System in 2013. Even while the hub and spoke system was making progress toward the elimination of waiting lists in 2017, plans were taking shape for reaching the Vermonters experts knew would have difficulty being engaged or retained in the system.   Read more… 

Link to entire article:

https://vtdigger.org/sponsored_content/going-mobile-to-better-reach-people-misusing-substances/