Editor’s note: This commentary is by Todd Centybear, who is executive director of the HowardCenter.
Gov. Shumlin focused his entire State of the State address on the growing issue of opiate addiction throughout Vermont. For many, this was probably the first time that they had heard the problem described as a public health issue. For others — medical personnel, law enforcement staff, physicians, and clinicians — the governor’s speech voiced what they already know: that opiate addiction is a toxic, tenacious health issue that kills people, families, and communities.
HowardCenter has provided opiate addiction treatment for 12 years. We know too well the stigma our clients can experience in their struggle to get well. We applaud the governor’s declaration, and we look forward to the individuals seeking care in our clinics being afforded the same dignity and respect as those receiving treatment for any other chronic health issue, such as diabetes or high blood pressure.
More typically the real faces are those of a neighbor, a co-worker, a friend, a family member. They do not live in clinics but in our workplaces, neighborhoods, homes and yes, our schools.
This fall, HowardCenter opened a second medication-assisted treatment clinic to help address one of the serious issues the governor cited: the long waiting list for those who want treatment. Amid a public debate about its location, there has been unanimous agreement that our community needs this additional resource.
What happens in our clinics isn’t much different from what happens at other specialty medical offices. We perform medical evaluations and — under strict medical supervision — administer buprenorphine and methadone to suppress withdrawal symptoms. Under the state’s new opiate treatment model, designed to help people get treatment when they want it, similar services are now becoming available at selected primary care physicians’ offices. Our clients are not impaired when they leave, and in fact many are on their way to work or to drop children off at school.
It is easy and convenient for us to identify the face of addiction as the hard, bleak, wasted image usually proffered by the media in mug shots. That image might harden our resolve, but it can also harden our hearts and perpetuate our denial. More typically the real faces are those of a neighbor, a co-worker, a friend, a family member. They do not live in clinics but in our workplaces, neighborhoods, homes and yes, our schools. A path of leadership is being paved by our youth, one of whom wrote about the need for treatment in a school newspaper, “What if it was your child who needed help with an addiction?”
I applaud the governor’s focus on opiate addiction as a public health issue. As such, it deserves the same level of resources and support allotted to other public health issues. We are proud to work with our community partners to continue to provide treatment options. We are proud to take a lead in making our communities healthier and stronger.
