An addiction treatment center in St. Albans, Vermont is celebrating one year of treating people with substance use disorders in Franklin County.
The Bay Area Addiction Resources Treatment (BAART) has programs located through the U.S. The St. Albans addiction treatment center opened on top of a bus station, making it accessible to anyone passing by.
BAART programs, a branch of BayMark Health Services, provides opioid addiction treatment for its patients at all its facilities. This addiction treatment center in St. Albans is one of 26 under the BAART name.
BAART’s philosophy is to treat opioid use disorders as chronic disorders and give drug addiction treatment to patients. Individualized treatment is implemented by BAART to help patients.
BAART also offers medication-assisted treatment (MAT) to patients.
The BAART Regional Director of Operations stated that the location was in a perfect spot in the city where patients previously had to look for drug abuse treatment facilities in other cities.
BAART’s facility is one of two drug addiction facilities in St. Albans, according to the 2018 National Directory of Drug and Alcohol Abuse Treatment Facilities.
There were 12 drug-related fatalities in Franklin County in 2017, according to the Vermont Department of Health. There were 130 drug-related deaths in Vermont last year.
Preliminary data has indicated that there were five drug-related deaths in 2018 in Franklin County and 64 drug-related deaths in the state.
The director of operations also noted that there are no waiting lists for people needing drug rehab.
BAART operates under the Vermont Blueprint for Health, which is a design that implements several different strategies for combating health problems in the state. One of those is the Hub and Spoke system, which is Vermont’s system of MAT. BAART’s substance abuse treatment center operates as a Spoke and delivers opioid addiction treatment for Vermonters in need.
Vermont’s Hub and Spoke system consists of nine regional hubs that help patients with multifaceted issues related to substance abuse. The Spokes entails more than 75 doctors, nurses and therapists that provide opioid use disorder and behavioral health treatment to patients.
Hubs, which are opioid addiction treatment facilities, give extended services and communicate with Spokes.
MAT is provided at Hubs, including buprenorphine or naltrexone. The MAT could also involve assessment, medication dispensing and therapy.
Spokes are based out of office buildings and are located in facilities throughout Vermont. A majority of Spokes have integrated care for patients seeking help.
Spokes are generally family care practices and include outpatient addiction treatment facilities. The physicians in Spokes are approved to prescribe medicine to help people struggling with opioid addiction. Some patients with a less complicated addiction-related issue could start at Spokes while others end up in Spokes after starting at Hubs first.
Staffing at Spokes generally includes one therapist and one nurse for every 100 patients. The model allows an organized structure that helps Spokes focus on both addiction treatment and behavioral health.
The Hub and Spoke system was first suggested by Dr. John Brooklyn, and Vermont decided to implement the strategy. The state coordinated with the Department of Vermont Health Access, the Blueprint of Health and the Vermont Department of Health’s Division of Alcohol and Drug Abuse programs.
The state pays for the Hub and Spoke system through Medicaid.
According to the State of Vermont, access to addiction recovery services have improved since the Hub and Spoke model was placed. The Hub and Spoke model now helps 6,000 people with opioid use disorders.
Author: Robert B. Hayek
Robert B Hayek is a reporter for Addiction Now and covers features and local spotlight stories. He previously worked for Fox Sports as a production assistant as well as a writer and reporter for an online website called Real Talk Sports Network. He has lived in Southern California his entire life, is a lover of books and writing and also surfs. Contact Robert at roberth@addictionnow.com
