Bremerton clinic gets $325,000 to fund heroin treatment
BREMERTON — Peninsula Community Health Services of Bremerton won $325,000 in federal funding to begin a treatment program for people addicted to heroin and other opiates.
The clinic will use the money to train and authorize medical staff to prescribe a medication called Suboxone.
It's part of a $94 million nationwide allocation, which will be used to treat 124,000 new patients. U.S. Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., called the money a "critical step" in tackling the country's opiate abuse epidemic. Murray's office announced the allocation on Friday.
Peninsula CEO Jennifer Kreidler-Moss said many community organizations — police departments, treatment providers and other agencies — came together to support the clinic's grant application.
"That volume of support speaks to the deep need in our community for medication-assisted treatment delivered locally," she said.
More than 47,000 people in the United States died of drug overdoses — primarily caused by opiates like heroin — in 2014, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. That's the most of any year on record.
Use of heroin and other opiates skyrocketed in the past decade, and Kitsap County is no exception. Kitsap Public Health District's needle exchange, which distributes free syringes for the purpose of preventing disease, grew from about 282,000 needles exchanged in 2008 to more than 1 million in 2015.
Peninsula will hire three and a half full-time equivalent employees to begin the treatment program, Kreidler-Moss said. They hope to have up to 210 patients by the end of 2017 and also screen more than 13,000 people a year for signs of substance abuse.
Suboxone helps wean addicts off more dangerous opiates and ward off withdrawals. The treatment incorporates naloxone, a drug that can block the effects of opiates and can prevent overdoses.
Suboxone is different from methadone, which is also used in medication-assisted treatment of opiate addiction. Tennessee-based Acadia Healthcare, which operates more than 100 methadone clinics in the country, intends to open a 350-patient center in Kitsap County in the coming months.
Kreidler-Moss said Peninsula plans to help people with low incomes and who are underinsured. The clinic is also looking to help addicted veterans.
Eight clinics in Washington received federal funding, including in Spokane, Tacoma, Wenatchee and two each in Seattle and Yakima.
"These investments will give providers at clinics additional tools to get more people coming through the door before a tragedy like an overdose can take place," U.S. Rep. Derek Kilmer, D-Gig Harbor, said in a news release.
By: Josh Farley
Source: Kitsap Sun