Page 10 - Healthcare News Nov/Dec 2022

ADDICTION
Crisis State
OP pioid Addiction Remains a Persistent
Croblem in Massachusetts
“
over the past year, maybe two years, we as
a program have experienced more deaths hristine Palmieri has by overdose than at any other time in my
By JOSEPH BEDNAR
read the numbers regarding a spike in overdose deaths in Mas- sachusetts over the past
career.
“That’s troubling. There’s definitely
times when it feels very hopeless and very frustrating, but I think our programs have done an excellent job of showing up every
We continue to be relentless in our commitment to increase
couple years. But to her, they’re not just
numbers. day, meeting people where they’re at,” she
access to harm-reduction services, low-threshold housing, and treatment. By working to destigmatize addiction and meeting people where they’re at, including with an expanded array of harm- reduction tools, we can reverse this negative trend.”
“My role is to oversee our community- based programs that work with people who have experienced mental-health issues, substance-use disorders, and homeless- ness. As part of that, we run residential recovery programs for people who have a dual diagnosis, and we also run a number of different housing programs for people in recovery,” said Palmieri, vice president of Recovery and Housing at the Mental Health Assoc. (MHA) in Springfield. “And
went on. “One of our programs is called GRIT, and that’s how I would describe what we need to keep coming back every day, and what the people we’re supporting in recovery need to keep coming back every day.”
After several years of decline, the rate of opioid-related overdose deaths in Mas- sachusetts increased by 8.8% in 2021 com- pared to 2020, according to a June report by the Massachusetts Department of Public
Cristina Rivera and Dr. Katie Krauskopf say recovery can often be a winding process.
10 WWW.HEALTHCARENEWS.COM NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2022