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Community Health Center, Inc. Attacks Opioid Crisis

SIGNIFICANT GRANT EXPANDS SUBSTANCE ABUSE SERVICES

Middletown, Conn., October 18, 2017: Community Health Center, Inc. (CHC) has recently been awarded a $175,000 grant from the Health Resources & Services Administration (HRSA) that will help treat patients and communities affected by the opioid crisis.

Connecticut has been devastated by the opioid epidemic: the number of overdoses in Connecticut has increased in 2017, and Community Health Center, Inc. saw the number of patients seeking services for drug addiction climb dramatically. Connecticut is one of the highest ranking states in the country for hospitalization and ER visits due to drug abuse.

CHC is currently providing medication assistance treatment (MAT) along with behavioral health and care coordination support services to more than 900 patients across the agency. The need for expanded services, especially in the area of care coordination and the elimination of barriers that support patients in initiating and being retained in mental health and substance abuse treatment, is essential if CHC is to efficiently address the needs of communities.

“In an average week, CHC receives 25-30 new referrals for behavioral health and substance abuse services related to drug and alcohol use across our sites,” says Marwan Haddad, MD, Medical Director of the Center for Key Populations at CHC.  “These numbers continue to rise as CHC invests resources in community outreach and awareness, making the drive for expansion of services one of our main goals.”

In response to the dramatic number of referrals to mental health and substance abuse programs on a daily basis, CHC will be adding another Mental Health and Substance Abuse Care Coordinator to work in collaboration with the current full time Care Coordinator. This will allow CHC to have one Care Coordinator in each of the East and West regions.

“Adding a second full time Care Coordinator provides CHC with the resources to respond to current and potential patients with additional resources to help follow through with treatment plans. It will also offer providers the support needed to confidently increase the number of patients they can manage and treat,” says Haddad.

“Thanks to this generous grant, CHC can fight the opioid crisis from multiple angles,” says Mark Masselli, CHC’s President/CEO. “Besides the addition of our new Care Coordinator, CHC will be using this grant to create an opioid action plan which will provide overdose outreach, education, and awareness. Our action plan is designed to target not just our patient population, but the whole community to effectively combat the opioid crisis.”