Lori Kersey
The Charleston Gazette, W.Va.
CHARLESTON, W. Va. — Nearly a year after it started, representatives of a program meant to get Charleston’s overdose patients into drug treatment say it’s seeing some success.
Charleston’s quick response team has developed a list of 200 overdose patients or drug users since it started in late June 2018, coordinator Steve Samples said. Of those, about 19 percent have gone into some sort of recovery program, he said.
The percentage of people going to treatment is higher — about 50 percent — for those patients the team is able to track down and meet in person, Samples said.
“There’s a gap of what we see compared to what’s in the system because you run into those that are homeless, those that give you a bad address,” Samples said.
“If we put eyes on them, we have a pretty good success of getting them into treatment. ... That’s the key — being able to actually find the patients.”
The team includes one Charleston police officer, one paramedic and one representative from one of three mental health providers: Highland Hospital, Prestera or Thomas Health.
The team visits the addresses where drug overdoses have occurred to refer patients to some sort of drug treatment. They aim to follow up with the overdose patient within 72 hours of the overdose, he said.
The team will also visit people who tell first responders they need help finding drug treatment for themselves or a loved one, Samples said.
“A lot of people ask that question: ‘Do I have to overdose to get help?’ No, you don’t,” Samples said. “We’ll come and see you if you want us to, no matter what. We’re not just going to barge in on any EMS call. It has to be either an EMS call or they want us to come.”
QRT member Sgt. Doug Paxton of the Charleston Police Department, said the team is mostly well received by the people it visits.
“Even those that are not ready to go and receive treatment are willing to sit down with us and listen most of the time,” Paxton said. “Not always — we have some that [say], ‘I don’t want to hear anything,’ some that are busy. But the majority of the ones that we go and actually locate are wiling to talk with us.
“Many of them acknowledge that they do have a problem,” Paxton said. “They know that they need treatment, even if they’re not ready.”
Paxton said he thinks the program has so far been successful.
“At the very least we’re planting the seeds in the minds of people to consider recovery,” he said. “But we’ve had many that are accepting that are at least willing to go and try and going into some type of facility to receive assistance.”
The program does not track how long a person stays in treatment or whether they complete it.
EMS workers also hand out cards with QRT information to people they meet on overdose calls or those that may need help getting into recovery. A cellphone and email address is set up specifically for those sorts of messages. But Samples said people rarely call or email asking for help.
“We don’t get too many calls or emails,” Samples said. “That’s not common. But the more these cards get out, the more the word gets out.”
Paxton said the team members meet patients of all backgrounds and demographics.
“It’s a full gamut,” Paxton said. “It’s pretty spread out on all of, male, female, white, black. It doesn’t matter. It affects all of us. So I think everyone is connected to it in some way or another.”
Team members participate voluntarily but are compensated for their time with grant funding, Samples said.
For Samples, a retired South Charleston assistant fire chief and a father of two sons who have struggled with addiction, the mission is personal.
For others, Samples said, it’s a way to fend of the fatigue first responders sometimes feel from responding to the same drug overdose patients time after time.
“A lot of it is that just they want to help,” Samples said. “This is a helping group, especially the paramedic side. The paramedics, they want to help, and they realized there was a problem. This is a way they can reach out and help in another manner just besides running EMS calls.”
Paxton said he decided to be a part of the team because he didn’t want to be “on the sidelines.”
“I wanted to at least be able to try to offer help. I thought this would be a program that would try to be able to put it on them to decide if they want to get treatment,” Paxton said. “At least we’re there to offer it to them. A lot of places make it available, but if you don’t know about the places, it’s hard to get into them.”
Samples said the team at times struggles to find room in a treatment program for people who want help.
“Beds are a struggle for everybody, and it always has been,” Samples said. “It’s great that we get lots of folks out trying to help, but we all funnel down to that same bed. We’re all looking for that same bed. But we won’t quit, we’ll try to expend every resource we can to find them a bed and sometimes it might not be right then.”
Samples said it’s easier to get people into outpatient treatment. The team refers people to other providers besides the ones that partner on the team, he said.
The QRT is funded this year by a grant from the state Bureau for Behavioral Health. The current grant, which is managed by Prestera, runs out June 30, Prestera CEO Karen Yost said. The city of Charleston has applied for a grant to continue the program for another year after the current grant runs out.
Charleston Mayor Amy Shuler Goodwin has said she wants the team to be part of her Coordinated Addiction Response Effort (CARE) office.
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©2019 The Charleston Gazette (Charleston, W.Va.)