CareSouth Carolina plans to fight the substance abuse epidemic in the Pee Dee area with money from a Rural Communities Opiod Response Planning grant.
The grant was awarded by the Health Resources and Services Administration last summer.
In December, CareSouth formed a consortium to colloborate with organizations in Chesterfield, Darlington, Dillon, Marlboro and Lee counties. The partners include different health offices along with first-responders in those regions.
Daniel Myers is the coordinator for the Rural Opiod Community Response Consortium. He hopes the program will reduce the mortality cases associated with substance abuse.
“We want to destigmatize how people view overdose. We want people to see overdose and substance-abuse disorder as a chronic mental illness because that’s what it is, ” Myers said.
To aid the epidemic, the consortium created the Medication Assistance Treatment program. The program includes counseling, prevention, and treatment sessions.
” You never go to a doctor’s office and he says, “I’m done with you because you got diabetes, and you ate a candybar, so we don’t want you in the program anymore.” This is a disease, and It needs the same type of treatment, the same type of care as diabetes or hypertension.”
In 2019, the group plans to save lives and increase the access to opiate treatment in the Pee Dee area.
Family Nurse Practicioner at CareSouth, Tim Brown, has witnessed the damage of substance abuse for several years. He thinks the program has the power to make a change.
“Instead of locking them up, we need a treatment plan, so that we can put them back to work. I’ve witnessed people die from it and had we had this, it would’ve been a tremendous help,” Brown said.
People, who are interested in starting the M.A.T program, are encouraged to visit a CareSouth Carolina health center in one of the five counties.