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Program dedicated to stopping overdoses
Jordan Bowen reports
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. - The opioid crisis continues to have a tight grip on the country. Hundreds of thousands of people die every year from overdoses, but a new program in Pinellas County hopes to curb those numbers by getting patients help as soon as they come in.
The pilot program is called "Pinellas Matters," and it has already helped a few hundred people struggling with addiction find treatment in just a matter of months. At Bayfront Health St. Petersburg, Rhonda Viola, a recovery peer specialist, has become a cure to the hopeless being felt by so many.
"I bring some hope into the room where oftentimes they feel alone in the worst moments of their life," Viola said.
As a recovery peer specialist, she helps untangle people twisted up in the opioid crisis by opening up about her story of addiction.
"I want to help people who suffered the way I did. I identify with them on a real level, on a ground floor level, and I want them to survive," Viola said.
It's people like Viola who are integral to "Pinellas Matters," which is a county-funded pilot program aimed at curbing opioid overdose deaths. Any time someone comes into the ER for an overdose, once they're stabilized, a recovery peer specialist teaches them about narcan, substance abuse disorder and long-term treatment options.
The county works with Operation PAR which, through grants, helps pay for long-term treatment options for patients, so cost is never a factor.
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"It's great. For a long time, it's been really difficult to see our community struggle and in emergency medicine, when we see a problem we want to fix it, and we knew that we had the resources to do it," said Dr. Eric Shamas, a Bayfront Health St. Petersburg Emergency Physician.
Since the program began 11 months ago, they've treated more than 400 patients for overdoses and substance abuse issues. Today, at least 74% of those patients have either completed or are currently in long-term drug treatment programs.
"Sometimes they go home and call me days later or even a month later and say 'you talked to me in the ER, and I'm ready for help.' They found hope at 11 o'clock at night on Saturday and decided to text me. 'I'm ready.'"
Viola too is ready with hope to offer.
"There's a way out and there is hope, but people often times don't see it," Viola said.
Currently, Pinellas Matters is only being offered at Bayfront Health St. Petersburg, but program coordinators said the progress is in the numbers and, because so many people have found treatment through the program, they are currently looking to expand it to every hospital in Pinellas County.