This commentary is by Gary De Carolis, executive director of the Vermont Recovery Network, representing nine recovery centers in Vermont. Earlier, he was executive director of the Turning Point Center of Chittenden County for eight years, and has held leadership roles in local, state and federal government.
These are tough times. We are all being confronted with the continuing Covid-19 epidemic. It’s been almost two years since any sort of normalcy has existed. The epidemic means that more people are being faced with food and/or housing insecurity.
Then there are the thousands of Vermonters who have a substance use disorder. The isolation alone that Covid has presented tests the strongest of those with that disorder to strive for and remain in recovery. Add housing and food insecurity and it is one tough mix of life events for even the heartiest to endure, and yet it is reality for so many of our fellow Vermonters.
Think of it — Covid, hunger, lack of stable housing, isolation, and a substance use disorder.
How have we as a state responded to those who are experiencing a substance use disorder during this pandemic? My conclusion is that we must do better.
We know for a fact that Vermont is leading the nation in the rise of opioid overdose deaths, a 69.9% increase in 2020 over the previous year. We also know that in the past five years, despite some very innovative approaches to stemming the tide of overdose deaths (Rutland and Burlington Commstat, Medically Assisted Treatment), we have seen a steady if not alarming decline of a range of services and supports offered to Vermonters who have a substance use disorder.
We lost a valuable resource, Maple Leaf Farm with some 40-plus treatment beds; Northern Lights, a transitional housing program for women with a substance use disorder coming out of a correctional facility, closed; we also recently have been made aware of the closing of the Phoenix House Inc. sober homes that were functioning in several counties; and in Seven Days there was also mention of another sober house (Oxford House) closing.
In the past three years, the Vermont Department of Health has been able to use federal funds to boost services across Vermont. New Moms in Recovery programs were started in several recovery centers around Vermont and at last count the state’s 14 regional hospitals all have a peer recovery coaching program in their emergency department. That means people who were once actively using drugs and/or alcohol are now in long-term recovery and trained to assist those who come to the hospital for an issue related to their addiction.
The great news here is that, when a peer recovery coach meets that patient, over 70% of the time that person ends up receiving treatment for their substance use disorder. The bad news here is that the Vermont Department of Health has recently told the recovery centers that it is very possible that by June 30, 2022, they will receive a 50% cut in those programs — basically ending viable, evidence-based, effective programs.
Finally, the 12 recovery centers around Vermont have not received an increase in their base funding from the state in some five years. That means they have lost money during this pandemic and raging opioid overdose death increase. With less, asked to do more.
Gov. Scott initiated an Opioid Coordinating Council some four years ago. It brought life and visibility to the issue of Addiction, treatment and recovery. That also ended, and in its place is a much more quiet, bureaucratic committee that has not had the same very public approach to this work.
We need another call to arms for all Vermonters. We need to look hard at the gaps in services and provide support for the recovery centers in ways that allow them to pay a decent wage to those who do this incredible work.
We need to make sure that the funds available to Vermont from various opioid death settlements from the pharmaceutical industry are targeted to the desired services and supports that those in the recovery and treatment field suggest.
And finally, look to support innovative approaches to reach people during this pandemic who have a substance use disorder. For example, Overdose Prevention Sites, now being launched in other cities in the USA, could be very helpful in Vermont.
This tough situation requires everyone to play a role in its solution. Call neighbors, give rides to those who seek treatment, look at the talents of people with substance use disorders rather than at their disorder, and offer meaningful work to people with a substance use disorder.
We need an all-state solution and we certainly do not need to do less in a time that requires more of each one of us.
