In the Gazette Virginian September 2023
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ESTABLISHING CONNECTIONS Nathalie non-profit embarks on expansion with fundraiser for Recovery Hall
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SYSTEM FAILS LOCAL WOMAN
A LOCAL WOMAN ADDICTED TO DRUGS SEEKS HELP FROM COURTS AND BEHAVIORAL HEALTH only to find herself addicted to another drug and having to leave her home at 4:30 every morning to legally obtain it or she will go into withdrawal or worse, go back to the street for relief. She could be your mother, sister, aunt, grandmother, daughter or friend. She just may be. What happens when the behavioral health services run out? Does she know how to stay clean, or does she go back to the street, use illegal drugs and start the cycle with behavioral health all over? In the case of this woman, as is the case with many others, the services are running out and the woman is being returned to homelessness without the means to legally continue to get the drug the system got her hooked on.
MAT: Medication Assisted Therapy: (MAT) is the use of medications, in combination with counseling and behavioral therapies, to provide a “whole-patient” approach to the treatment of substance use disorders.
DRT: Drug Replacement Therapy: Drug replacement and maintenance therapy have a long history of providing individuals struggling with problematic drug use with legal access to drugs that would otherwise be obtained through illegal means.
Sounds great in theory.
In reality it’s a big money maker and no one really wants to help you/your addict stop. The profits are huge. Some places have as many as one thousand patients, twenty dollars a day per patient is a lot of money.
Stories from addicts and families whose addicts have been tied to these therapies for many years are abundant. The clinics tell them the addict will be “tapered” off the drug and counseled on staying clean but in reality, after many years of being addicted to the replacement drugs, the word taper is no longer in the conversation.
This story is the reality for many people. Our nation, state, and county are suffering the effects of the opioid epidemic. The woman we headlined is real. She ended up in the care of our local Behavioral Health Services and legal system. When the people who agreed to help her were asked why Recovering Hands, our only local residential recovery center for women, wasn’t considered as an alternative to homelessness and/or addiction their response was “Recovering Hands doesn’t meet the criteria”.
We, at Recovering Hands, can’t seem to get a straight answer regarding what criteria it is that we don’t meet. One possible reason? Recovering Hands doesn’t condone the use of MAT or DRT. Our program utilizes a life skills program, 12 step meetings and connections with others who are also on the same path; a decades old, proven way for people to find recovery and stay abstinent from any substances. Recovering Hands, a Consumer Operated 501-3(c) organization, is accredited by the Virginia Association of Recovery Residences. We are dedicated to providing support and residential extended-care to women suffering the effects of substance use. Recovering Hands is located on a 150-acre property in Nathalie, VA and has four beds. Our mission is to help women suffering from the effects of alcohol and drug abuse improve their health and wellness, learn to live a self-directed life and begin to utilize the recovery skills necessary to reach their full potential. For women who want to turn their lives around, our program creates the resiliency necessary to thrive.
From a former resident: “During a previous stay in another rehab there was so much drug talk that all I wanted to do was use. After 21 days I ended up leaving early and I overdosed. Another time the CSB sent me to GALAX for 8 days. They said there wasn’t any additional funding to send me anywhere else. Within a week of being home, I was back out there and doing way worse. My experience with Treatment Centers is that they made me want to use drugs, not get off them.”
“The program at Recovering Hands was not so focused on the drugs as on the life skills that I needed in order to sustain long term recovery. The tools I learned during my 90 days built my foundation and now I am still using these tools to deal with life on life’s terms.”
Recovering Hands adheres to a professional competency standard and uses evidence-based practice models in our program. Recovering Hands offers a safe recovery-based living environment for women struggling with addiction and alcoholism, insulating them from the triggers that might otherwise pull them off their paths, giving them a chance to move into long-term recovery with a solid base in place.
Recovering Hands teaches women how to stay clean without replacing one addiction. Please speak out against a system that won’t consider Recovery over MAT and DRT.
Recovering Hands Speakers Present to United Methodist Women’s Group
On Oct. 12, the Main Street United Methodist Women welcomed Lisa Wallace and Kim Adams to speak about a little known and yet valuable resource in Halifax County.
Recovering Hands is a residential, extended-care facility for women who are recovering from addiction.
Located in Nathalie, this property provides many different proven avenues for whole-self recovery. Adams, with more than 30 years substance free, shared she saw a need for a different way to offer help to those who want to get better.
Their mission is “to provide quality substance abuse residential support services leading to improved health, wellness, long-term recovery, employability and reintegration with society and families.”
The facility can house up to four residents at a time and on average the suggested stay is 90 days. In that time frame, the residents are given skills for how to deal with the triggers which can lead to continued addiction as well as skills for life. The wholistic approach avoids being dependent on any one way of addiction recovery and instead offers many options recognizing that everybody is different. The goal, sobriety, is the most important focus for everyone coming through.
As Wallace and Adams shared their personal stories and the situations in their lives that led them to work together for the betterment of others, the ladies were excited to see the dedication and love that they have for this ministry. Without pause the United Methodist Women presented a donation of $200 from the group and several others offered personal donations on top of that.
Beth Reese shared that often people do not hear much about addiction or the rash of overdose deaths even in our own county.
“Recovering Hands is taking the time to call our attention to the problem and then finding a way to help,” she said. “Thank you.”
For more information, visit http://recoveringhands.com or email info@recoveringhands.com.
Remembering lives lost to drug addiction
Lisa Wallace lost her son due to drug addiction. The bags illuminated in front of her recognize only a few of those who have died from drug overdose in Halifax County.
SoVaNow.com / September 02, 2021
Recovering Hands hosted its first Overdose Awareness Day memorial Tuesday night at Constitution Square, drawing a small gathering of community members who have lost loved ones to drug addiction.
Recovering Hands Board President Lisa Wallace organized the event in honor of her son, Luke Wazeka, who died of an overdose two years ago.
“My son’s name lives on to save lives,” said Wallace.
Wallace shared her battles as she tried to help her son get clean from drug use, but everything she tried did not work.
“I yelled, I tried tough love, but they have to want it for themselves,” said Wallace.
Drug addiction is a disease that can affect anyone. Yet there is life after recovery with a change in lifestyles and friends, and gaining strength when stress in life may trigger the urge to use drugs.
Also speaking about the loss of Luke Wazeka was his wife, Erika Holt. Even though her love was strong, it was not enough.
“There were times he was determined and struggled hard in his life with addiction,” said Holt.
Holt shared that all of his friends never reached out to her to offer condolences for her loss to make a point: if people are doing drugs with you, they are not your friends. It is important to be able to change your entire lifestyle when entering a life of recovery.
Kim Adams is the founder of Recovering Hands, a home for women in recovery located in Nathalie. Adams is a drug use survivor in long-term recovery, but could not save her brother Craig who died four years ago. At Recovering Hands, people learn to cope with daily life and stress, and how to be a productive person in society again through a spiritual approach.
“People do stay clean and addicts can stop using,” said Adams.
Ashley Pharr, 35 is a recovering drug addict who survived what doctors refer to a fatal overdose. Pharr had consumed a cocktail of oxycodone, heroin laced with Fentanyl, Xanax, alcohol, and Ritalin.
“Getting clean wasn’t easy,” said Pharr, who has been drug free for 16 months.
Pharr shared her experience at the event: She began to experiment using drugs as a way to get closer with her boyfriend at the time.
“It was a toxic relationship and I began to self-medicate,” said Pharr.
Pharr was in the hospital going through withdrawal during the Covid-19 pandemic without any family at her side. It was during this time she realized she was no longer the mother she once was to her two daughters, a sister, or the daughter her parents raised.
“When a doctor tells you the amount of seconds I had left to live, or my parents would have received a different phone call,” said Pharr — that was her wake-up call.
“I have not relapsed, but it hasn’t been easy. It’s not going to stay easy, but it’s beyond worth it,” said Pharr.
The celebration of loved ones lost was heightened by local gospel singer Linda Satterfield, who sang three songs, “Why Me Lord,” “Amazing Grace,” and “We Shall Overcome.”
Off to the side of the stage, a video slideshow displayed 40 photos of family members locally who have died of drug overdoses. Also, the group viewed snippets of the movie, “The Anonymous People,” about famous people in recovery, focusing on how anyone can become addicted to drugs.
As the sun set, everyone wrote the names of their lost loved ones on white paper bags. The bags were illuminated by a tea light candle and placed on the stage at Constitution Square. The gathering was a way for everyone to grieve and know they are not alone.
Wallace is working to organize a local support group for those who have lost someone due to drug use. Anyone who needs to talk may reach out and contact Wallace at 757-615-9669.
For anyone in recovery or battling with addiction, there are both Alcoholic and Narcotic Anonymous meetings available in South Boston. On Sunday and Monday at 6 p.m., Solutions with Serenity is held at the First Presbyterian Church at 800 N. Main Street. On Tuesday, at 6pm Living Clean, the Journey Continues is held at Trinity Episcopal Church at 520 Yancey Street in South Boston.
In 2001, International Overdose Awareness Day was initiated by Sally J Finn at The Salvation Army in St. Kilda, Melbourne. For more information about International Overdose Awareness Day visit https://www.overdoseday.com/
To explore the grounds and housing at Recovering Hands visit them online at https://recoveringhands.com. Recovering Hands is located at 4067 Beulah Road in Nathalie. For more information about Recovering Hands call 860-309-1404 or email info@recoveringhands.com.
Recovering Hands speakers present to group
Special to The Gazette
On Oct. 12, the Main Street United Methodist Women welcomed Lisa Wallace and Kim Adams to speak about a little known and yet valuable resource in Halifax County.
Recovering Hands is a residential, extended-care facility for women who are recovering from addiction.
Located in Nathalie, this property provides many different proven avenues for whole-self recovery. Adams, with over 30 years substance free, shared that she saw a need for a different way to offer help to those who want to get better.
Their mission is “to provide quality substance abuse residential support services leading to improved health, wellness, long-term recovery, employability and reintegration with society and families.”
The facility can house up to four residents at a time and on average the suggested stay is 90 days. In that time frame, the residents are given skills for how to deal with the triggers which can lead to continued addiction as well as skills for life. The wholistic approach avoids being dependent on any one way of addiction recovery and instead offers many options recognizing that everybody is different. The goal, sobriety, is the most important focus for everyone coming through.
As Wallace and Adams shared their personal stories and the situations in their lives that led them to work together for the betterment of others, the ladies were excited to see the dedication and love that they have for this ministry. Without pause the United Methodist Women presented a donation of $200 from the group and several others offered personal donations on top of that.
Beth Reese shared that often people do not hear much about addiction or the rash of overdose deaths even in our own county.
“Recovering Hands is taking the time to call our attention to the problem and then finding a way to help,” she said. “Thank you.”
For more information, visit http://recoveringhands.com or email info@recoveringhands.com.
News
Recovering Hands In The News – September 2019
Recovering Hands Reclaiming our planet one life at a time
Recovering Hands In The News
With potent impacts in rural areas road to opioid addiction recovery is often paved with many difficult twists and turns
By Caleb Ayers cayers@registerbee.com
All Linsay Clark could think about was her house, her advertising job and her two sons as the drugs wore off and her mom and sisters confronted her. She couldn’t go more than a few hours without getting high.
Clark knew there was a strong possibility she could lose it all if she admitted her own addiction and took the necessary time and effort to get clean, so she felt her fight or flight reflexes kicking in.
“My body was telling me to run, but that kind of consciousness in my mind was saying ‘Linsay, you have to hear what they have to say,’” she recalled.
So she called her therapist, who told her exactly what to do: get in the car, go to the emergency room in Morgantown, West Virginia, and tell them that she was an addict and a danger to herself and others.
The next day, Clark got in the car and did exactly that, beginning her difficult journey into recovery. While experts say addicts often relapse or fail to get clean altogether, Clark worked with other recovering addicts to arrive to where she is today — clean for 29 months on Monday.
The opioid crisis is both a term used to describe an increase in prescription and non-prescription use and to describe the abuse of opiate and opioid drugs, which have flooded communities nationwide over the last several decades. The epidemic has not discriminated against the young or the old, the rich or the poor, the educated or the uneducated, said Dr. Scott Spillmann, who works with the Virginia Department of Health as the district health director for the Pittsylvania/Danville and Southside Health Districts.
“Look in the mirror because it can be anybody,” he said when asked to describe the typical opioid addict. “Anybody could become an addict.”
Dr. Paul Earley, an addiction medicine physician based in Georgia, has spent much of his career helping physicians recover from addictions. The percentage of physicians who struggle with opioid and alcohol addictions is comparable to the everyday population, he said.
Addiction, he said, “is an equal opportunity destroyer.”
While opioids affect people from all walks of life, the effects of the epidemic have been especially potent in rural areas, Spillmann said.
The catchall term opioid refers to natural opiates, such as morphine, codeine and heroine, as well as synthetic substances like methadone and fentanyl. Generally, the synthetic opioids are significantly more powerful, and therefore dangerous.
Spillmann said the human brain has opiate receptors that function like locks that are unlocked only by specific opioids.
“The intent of the opioids is to reduce the brain’s ability to feel pain,” he said.
Consistent abuse of opioids can make a person more sensitive to pain and usually increases a person’s tolerance, which means greater quantities of stronger drugs are needed to produce the desired effect. This higher tolerance is what results in overdoses. Since 2013, drug overdoses have sat atop the list of unnatural causes of death in Virginia, climbing to more than one and a half times as many deaths as gun-related and motor vehicle-related fatalities, Virginia Department of Health data show.
Many of these overdoses have been from opioids or deadly combinations of opioids and other such drugs as benzodiazepines like Valium and Xanax, which are central nervous system depressants. The damage also extends past the overdose deaths, which actually decreased last year, according to data from the Center for Disease Control and Prevention. This decrease is due to such overdose-reversing drugs as Narcan.
Andrew Miller, senior litigation counsel for the New York, New York-based Sanford Heisler Sharp, LLP, said that directly and indirectly, opioids have increased crime rates and incurred extra costs on community law enforcement, social services and emergency response.
States and communities around the country have filed lawsuits against pharmaceutical providers and distributors alike to recoup some of the costs. Miller, who has filed opioid-related cases on behalf of many Virginia localities, including Pittsylvania County, said these cases all revolve around two primary goals: stopping the flow of drugs to save lives and compensating localities for the costs accrued as a result of the influx of opioids.
But localities aren’t just concerned with recovering expenses; they want help solving this problem, which is a legal term called abatement, Miller said.
“What’s it going to cost going forward to fix this problem that exists, and that cost is enormous, frankly,” Miller said. “It’s going to be a huge expense for counties and cities if they want to do it properly and if they want to get back to square one.”
By the time Clark was 16 years old, she had already struggled with addiction to alcohol and drugs for several years. And then her orthodontist first prescribed her Lorcet, an opiate painkiller for when she had her wisdom teeth removed.
Like many other opioid addicts, that first exposure to a prescription drug led her to try more opioids, her dependence and tolerance gradually increasing until her body physically required them.
Often, she would combine opioids with benzodiazepines, a very dangerous and potentially lethal combination, and her life began to revolve around her ability to get opiates.
“I had big goals for myself,” she said. “Once the drugs took hold, all I could do was survive.”
In her years of opioid abuse, Clark crashed vehicles, lost jobs, blew through all the money she had earned and lost interest in her goals and relationships. Anything or anyone that came between her and her drugs was a threat.
“When you start doing opiates, you really stop doing everything else,” she said. “Everything else kind of gets put on hold. There’s no more growth in any area of your life.”
She did manage to earn a degree in liberal arts from West Virginia University through a nontraditional online program.
Despite the family intervention and the rehab programs that followed, Clark, like most addicts, could not immediately get clean.
“It’s not uncommon for people to try three, four or five times,” Spillmann explained.
Earley said that a patient’s commitment to recovery will vary over time. After the first phase — which he described as “rough” and “physical” — the mental aspect becomes increasingly important.
With potent impacts in rural areas, road to opioid addiction recovery often paved with many difficult twists and turns
“It’s not a linear path,” Earley said. Relapsing a few times should not be deemed a failure. “Their failure is not the relapse. Their failure is to stop trying,” Spillman said. “The ones who keep trying are the ones who succeed.”
While Clark was unable to immediately free herself from the drugs, she did continue to fight her addiction and attend 12-step programs, a form of rehabilitation based of the idea of members helping each other abstain from substance abuse, much like with Alcoholics Anonymous.
A problem Clark faced was her doctor’s insistence on giving her more drugs to wean her off opioids. Medication assisted treatment (MAT) usually involves drugs like suboxone, which block the opioid receptors in the brain, Spillmann explained.
Clark did whatever she could to get more suboxone: she would drive from doctor to doctor, pharmacy to pharmacy to get new prescriptions, paying cash when insurance ran out. It was cheaper than getting pain medication from the streets.
“The drugs that they were prescribing me to get off of drugs became my drugs of choice,” Clark said.
Kim Adams, who runs a women’s recovery facility called Recovering Hands in Halifax County, says many addicts aren’t encouraged to move on from suboxone.
“We’re seeing less and less in 12-step programs because they’re being maintained by doctors, unsuccessfully,” Adams said.
Clark went through two overlapping series of withdrawals. She equates withdrawal symptoms from opiates to having the flu: chills and body aches, sweats, severe physical and mental anxiety and an inability to sleep and keep food down. Those symptoms plagued her for months.
For the suboxone, the symptoms were much more severe: Clark had nine seizures in a four-year period. One caused a car wreck and another almost cost her an eye.
Friends from her recovery program encouraged her throughout, and some helped her get to Recovering Hands for a six-week stay.
Adams understands the havoc addiction can wreak on people’s lives: her mother couldn’t shake her dependence on pain medications; her brother abused as many as nine different pain medications and died of an overdose. Adams, now in recovery for 30 years herself, focuses on peer-recovery at her farm.
“There’s no such thing as a recovered addict… you need to continue to maintain your recovery,” she said.
Recovering addict Doug Oakley followed Adams to Halifax to help at Recovering Hands, where he does maintenance and fundraising.
“That’s how we continue our recovery, is by helping other people,” he said.
Also a long-term recovering addict, Adams’ husband, Bill Adams, works full-time and helps her run the farm.
“Giving people a chance to become a productive member of society is worth anyone’s time,” he said.
During her stay, Clark worked with horses and in the garden, meditated and did yoga daily, attended 12-step programs, and tested and developed responses to triggers that could send her back to the drugs.
“It’s kind of a magical thing that happens when you’re forced to face yourself,” Clark said. “There were really no distractions there.”
When Clark completed the program, because knew she couldn’t just go back to her life in Cumberland, she packed up her kids and moved back to Halifax to get involved with Recovering Hands.
After living and working as a teacher’s aide in Halifax for over two years, she moved to Maryland with her husband and two sons in July, and recently obtained a job working with the language arts and special education department in a middle school.
Even after being clean for over two and a half years, it’s still an everyday fight.
“Some days I’m struggling and I’m like, ‘Oh my God, I did nothing right today except stay clean,’” she said. “But as long as I stay clean, I have this chance to grow.”
With so many recovering addicts — her mother, Kim and Bill, her friends from the rehabilitation programs and her husband, who she met through her recovery — investing into her, Clark has turned around and tried to help others recover too. She serves on the board for Recovering Hands, and while she lived in Halifax, she would bring 12-step program meetings to people who were in the hospital for overdoses or addiction recovery.
Many addicts fail to move past their addictions, but Adams hopes to see more women walk out of her program like Clark, who has overcome her ever-present need for drugs and is now committed and present in her career and family.
“[Clark] became an asset to the community afterward,” Adams said.
Ayers reports for the Register & Bee. Reach him at (434) 791-7981.
https://www.godanriver.com/news/local/with-potent-impacts-in-rural-areas-road-to-opioid-addiction/article_a22aeb19-1051-51d5-b6b2-d7dee20bfb68.html
Recovering Hands is a 501-3c Non-Profit Organization and in order to help women like Linsay to rebuild their lost lives, we need your help. Please explore our site to learn more about us, shop our online store and/or make a donation..
Recovering Hands In The News!
Recovering Hands In The News!
Recovering Hands In The News
As country tries to address opioid epidemic, number of overdoses in Dan River Region continues its ascent
Although steps have been taken to limit the availability of prescription opioids as the epidemic gained more attention, the number of overdose-related calls and emergency room trips has continued to climb in the Dan River Region.
According to data from the Virginia Department of Health, the number of fatalities in the state steadily has risen since 2017, reaching 1,534 deaths in 2017. Between 2015 and 2016, the fatal overdoses increased by 38.9 percent across the state — the highest increase on record.
In its report based on the third quarter of 2018, the state health department predicted total fatalities in 2018 would reach 1,508.
Public safety officials and hospital staff said though the number of deaths never reached the heights of neighboring counties and southwestern Virginia, addiction and overdose remains an issue in Danville and Pittsylvania County.
Danville Life Saving Crew paramedic Jim Mullins said they saw their number of calls reporting an overdose-related emergency increase from 90 to 107 between 2017 and 2018. He said even those numbers may be underreporting the prevalence of opioid overdoses.
“Opioid overdoses can be misleading at times or they can even be hidden in a way,” Mullins said. The crew receives calls reporting difficulty breathing or chest pains most frequently, which can be “possible overdoses in disguise.”
But the rescue squad doesn’t know until they arrive, he said.
“Honestly, I think it’s getting worse,” Mullins said.
Pittsylvania County Sheriff Mike Taylor said his department also has seen an increase in calls each year since the spike in 2016 sounded alarms in the public sphere.
“We’ve certainly seen an increase in the number of overdoses with opioids and prescription medications,” Taylor said.
According to Virginia Department of Health’s data, the Pittsylvania-Danville health district has seen opioid overdose-related emergency room visits increase from 106 in 2015 to 141 in 2017.
Danville made up 88 of the 106 visits in 2015 and 105 of the 141 visits in 2017. The county doubled from 18 visits to 36 in those two years.
From what Mullins and Taylor have seen, the victims cross all demographics. Taylor said he typically sees people between the ages of 34 and 50.
It can be anyone, they said.
Mullins said, “It’s the guy that doesn’t have a home to the guy that has the best home in town.”
The majority of them ail from chronic pain and in their search for a solution, they wind up addicted to their medication, said Mullins and Taylor.
“The same pill that you took twice a day doesn’t work the same,” said Mullins. “You’ll keep hitting it until you get the effect that you want. … You don’t realize that you’re depressing your respiratory system.”
Eventually, their tolerance to the medication increases and they increase their dose on their own.
“These folks that are addicted to this, they really want the help, and they’ll tell you that but they’re just at a point in your life where they just have to have professional help to wean themselves off of the opioids,” Taylor said.
SOVAH Health-Danville physician Jeremy Silvers said emergency room doctors see the epidemic on three levels — the emergency scenario where individuals are dying of respiratory failure, people who are going through withdrawal and people who come in requesting opioids.
Silvers said, when it comes to opioid-related overdoses, “I’ve seen at least once a week since the new year started.”
“For all overdoses, it’s more. It’s much more,” he said. He noted that some opioids, like fentanyl, don’t appear in a drug screen which could result in underreporting as well.
After an overdose, Silvers said that patient’s stay ends up costing upward of $100,000.
“That patient is going to require significant resources which takes away resources from other sick individuals and decreases the quality of care for something that is totally preventable,” the doctor said.
When people arrive to the emergency room in search of treatment for withdrawal or prescriptions, Silvers said they have to turn them away.
Silvers said this was the hospital’s policy.
“People come in just hoping that we have a magic bullet or medication that can get them off,” he said. Or SOVAH Health has an inpatient treatment facility, added Silvers, which they don’t.
Although Danville-Pittsylvania Community Services offers addiction and prevention services, few addiction treatment centers are available locally.
Recovering Hands founder Kim Adams pets one of her two therapy horses used to assist those who participate in her addiction recovery program.
Halle Parker/Register & Bee
Kim Adams runs an addiction treatment program called Recovering Hands on her farm in Nathalie, saying she felt called to increase the amount of addiction services available to women in the area.
“When I moved here, I noticed there weren’t any treatment centers locally,” she said. “There seems to be very few resources for people to get help.”
She moved to Halifax County from Connecticut in 2010 and worked to make Recovering Hands fully functional by 2016. So far, her program’s served seven women and two men, with another expected to arrive over the next week.
While people are in her program, they stay on the farm for 30, 60 or 90-day periods. Adams said the farm’s centered around “reclaiming lost lives.”
“I always say they really only have to change one thing and that’s everything,” she said with a smile. “What we teach here is you’re worth the effort to build a new way of life.”
After 28 years as a certified recovery specialist working in peer recovery, Adams said she’s trying to give people a place to come learn how to help themselves as they work on projects and learn life skills to make transitioning out of the program easier.
Adams said funding is a huge barrier to treatment that people face in a high poverty area like Southside Virginia. Even with her program’s cost set at $3,000 compared to the $16,000 of a typical treatment center, she said women have difficulties finding funds.
“I have received many calls from women and parents in Danville and Pittsylvania County, Halifax County as well,” she said. “The only reason I was not able to help those people is funding. They did not have any way to pay our fees and I can’t take insurance.”
One of the meeting spaces at Kim Adam’s addiction recovery center, Recovering Hands, in Nathalie.
Halle Parker/Register & Bee
While the increase in availability of drugs like Narcan and naloxone have improved the save rate of those who overdose, the issue of addiction remains.
Taylor said he could recall the drugs being used at least twice on the northern end of the county and successfully reviving the person.
“I think across the state in 2017 Narcan was known to have been used over 4,500 times and it had a 54 percent effective rate and that was a good thing,” Taylor said.
In response to the increasing numbers, Mullins said they’ve done more to try to educate the community about the dangers of opioids and also have begun treating people who call with chest pain or trouble breathing with Narcan or naloxone automatically.
He said he does wish the life-saving drugs were easier to administer, like an EpiPen, without encouraging people to feel like they can overdose and be revived.
“You want to deter rather than encourage them with a possible antidote that’s in your hand,” he said.
Mullins warned people who survive and overdose still suffer from loss of brain cells because of the lack of air flow or head trauma from fainting.
“Sometimes there are worse things than just dying from it,” he said.
Taylor said the issue will require continued intervention from higher levels of government than just local law enforcement before the issue is resolved.
Halle Parker reports for the Danville Register & Bee. Contact her athparker@registerbee.com or (434) 791-7981.