The touristic island of Martha’s Vineyard in Massachusetts will be getting a new drug detox center this month.
The upcoming facility is going to be serving local community members who need medical assistance due to conditions related to their mental health as well as those who are struggling with substance use disorders.
The new addiction treatment center is going to be established by the Martha’s Vineyard Community Services, a community-based healthcare organization that has assisted more than 6,000 members of the local community through its six different programs.
Additionally, the Martha’s Vineyard Community Services employes more than 100 volunteers and features a staff of almost 90 paid employees.
Although the new clinic will be providing psychological and psychiatric care to the community, the focus of the treatment center is going to be the detoxification for people who have opioid use disorders.
To assist those individuals who have been struggling with a heroin addiction or another opioid use disorder, the clinic will be offering medication-assisted treatment services that will feature the synthetic substance buprenorphine.
Janet Constantino, a nurse practitioner and licensed medication-assisted treatment provider at Martha’s Vineyard Community Services, explained that buprenorphine is oftentimes the one medication that can help people who have an opioid use disorder reclaim their lives.
She also said that buprenorphine is too often the only thing that can prevent these patients from experiencing severe withdrawal symptoms and that the relationship each patient has with the substance may vary.
“Some people stay on [buprenorphine] for a few months,” Constantino added. “[But] some people stay on it for a few years.”
Other services the clinic will provide will include urgent care assistance and recovery coaching.
Different insurances will be accepted, which should make medication-assisted treatment services and the other services that the clinic will offer easily attainable for local residents.
The area has been severely impacted by drugs, federal data shows.
Recent reports provided by the Massachusetts Department of Public Health have revealed that Dukes County, where Martha’s Vineyard is located, is one of the highest counties in the entire state when it comes to rates of deadly opioid overdoses and other accidents linked to toxic substances during recent years.
Massachusetts Department of Public Health has revealed that their representatives have reported a total of 15 opioid overdose deaths during the last three years.
The new clinic will be called the Island Intervention Center and it will be located within a refurbished building that is a part of the current campus used by the Martha’s Vineyard Community Services, in the Oak Bluffs region.
The officials from the new treatment center explained that… (continue reading)
Author: Livia Areas-Holmblad
Livia Holmblad is an editor at Addiction Now and covers breaking news, features and everything in between. She moved to SoCal after living in NYC for about 10 years, where she worked for VICE and SinoVision as a writer, editor, host, producer, and director. Born and raised in Rio de Janeiro. Contact Livia at liviah@addictionnow.com
