For people addicted to opioids, daily visits to harm-reduction centers can be a lifesaver — but how do you keep the at-risk population safe during a pandemic?
pandemic worsens, providers are struggling to continue offering services safely. In March, the federal Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration updated its guidance for opioid treatment programs to allow participants to take home up to 28 days of doses.
Washington guidelines now recommend most patients who need daily doses visit the clinic every other day, with the population split into two different pickup schedules, to halve the number of daily visitors. Depending on their “stability” as a patient, elderly people or those with other health conditions may take home up to two weeks of medication.
Vincent thinks providers are worried most about patients diverting their medicine to other people, something she claims is extremely uncommon among people who qualify for take-home doses. “I would say the risk to our health right now trumps the risk of diversion,” she says.organizations also aim to limit the negative impact of drug use, offering everything from safe-injection sites and needle exchanges to Narcan training sessions and distribution of clean syringes or fentanyl test strips.
Getting treatment now may be an uphill battle. Bill Kinkle, a registered nurse who is in recovery himself while also working as a care coordinator at CleanSlate, a Philadelphia outpatient addiction-medication clinic, has seen drug users unable to begin treatment at in-patient facilities because of the pandemic.
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