Medication, treatment centers aid heroin addicts in road to recovery

By: Megan Deierling and Ryan Landolph

Heroin addicts who want to get clean can choose from a number of available treatment options in their communities that range from medication to residential treatment.

While drug addiction is a complex illness, there is not one specific answer for someone trying to recover and avoid relapse.

Before any treatment is started or any medical option is pursued, Karyn Hall, the director of community relations at the Mental Health and Recovery Board of Portage County, stressed the importance of community outreach to inform the public of potential dangers of addictions and eliminate its negative connotation.

“We want to get rid of the negative stereotypes about addiction,” Hall said. “We want people to talk about it and reach out to help each other.”

Community substance abuse coalitions made progress in Portage County, and community health improvement plans are now in place.

“The Community Health Assessment and Community Health Improvement efforts are collaborative efforts among various entities serving Portage County,” said Kevin Watson, the accreditation coordinator and health educator in the Portage County Health District.

These groups coordinate efforts to improve public health, while focusing more time and money on preventing citizens from coming into contact with heroin and other opioids. But while community work is important, direct treatment options are vital to recovery for addicts.

“We do have treatments, and treatments work,” Hall said. “Recovery is possible.”

The treatment process usually begins with detoxification, or detox, where a person is admitted into a hospital and all drugs and toxins are removed from the body. Detox is not specifically a type of treatment, but the beginning of a recovery program.

After detox, Hall said, an addict can follow three paths of treatment. The first path is through the use of a medication called Vivitrol.

“Vivitrol is a shot that a person gets once a month (that) will block any opioid that enters your body, so you will not get the effects of getting high,” Hall said. “The danger with it is that people think they can override the shot. They will not, they will keep using and they can overdose that way.”

Another path is a medication known as Suboxone. Hall compared it to a vaccine, in that it gives the person a little bit of an opioid in order to keep the body from going into withdrawal.
“But it does not give them enough to get high,” Hall said. “People can still function. They can go to work. They can be a responsible family member and live their normal life.”

The final option after detox is abstinence, but there are issues with addicts who strictly attempt to practice abstinence.

“We actually do not see a good success rate with heroin with just trying to go completely abstinent,” Hall said. “We think the medication is a person’s best path.”

Medication by itself is not the only option in an addict’s recovery path. Treatment centers are also an essential component in aiding recovery.

“When they leave the hospital, they could enter a 90-day residential treatment facility,” Hall said. “While a person is there, they get a lot of support, they go to a lot of classes and have a lot of counseling and groups. It is really a great environment.”

Medication and treatment facilities should not be exclusively employed on their own. It is important that these two are applied together.

“(Medication and treatment center options) need to be intertwined,” said Tammy Jensen, the clinical manager at the ADM Crisis Center at Oriana House, an emergency treatment facility in Summit County that deals with many court-ordered services. “Getting medicated-assisted treatment without counseling addressing the other part of the brain is not going to be successful.”

Treatment centers can be beneficial for addicts because of the support they get while there, but also because it can be extremely cost effective for clients.

The ADM Crisis Center is funded by the Summit County ADM Board, which means that Summit County residents in need of in-patient treatment can get help with little-to-no costs.

“A client must show proof of being a Summit County resident,” Jensen said. “The majority of clients that access services here have zero out-of-pocket costs. It is paid for by the ADM Board.”

Treatment centers like these can help put addicts on the right track to sobriety. Still, the ultimate outcome rests within them.

“It is based on what the client wants to do and their willingness to do it, and that is going to contribute to how successful they are or not,” Jensen said.

Treatment facilities in Portage County and areas around give heroin addicts opportunities at recovery. https://t.co/DUvlLuUxD1

— Megan Deierling (@m_deierlingTV2) April 19, 2017

There are medications available and treatment options in Northeast Ohio for anyone facing a heroin addiction: https://t.co/NXU4LiX2S3 #RPP

— Ryan Landolph (@Ryan_Landolph) April 19, 2017