Opioid addiction doesn’t discriminate but access to treatment does. Low income adults living in New Jersey’s capital city had little hope of obtaining addiction recovery treatment, until the week of Dec. 4.
Related: Catholic Charities opening new outpatient detox clinic in Trenton
Catholic Charities, Diocese of Trenton opened an Ambulatory Detox Clinic this month, a result of that organization’s ongoing efforts to partner with other community providers to offer integrated health services to a vulnerable population. The clinic received a visit today from NJ DOH Acting Commissioner Christopher Rinn, Acting Deputy Commissioner for Integrated Health Services Carolyn Daniels, and Robert Eilers, MD, Medical Director, NJ DMHAS.
Commenting on the new detox clinic, Deputy Commissioner Daniels observed that “Catholic Charities’ Detox Clinic is just the latest effort in their long tradition of responding to the needs of the most marginalized and in integrating medical and behavioral health long before it was popular.”
Following a tour and presentation from Catholic Charities’ addiction recovery staff, Commissioner Rinn remarked that “the methodology, the leveraging of new technology that this detox clinic has embraced are all best practices and will certainly have a positive impact on population health.”
This new detox clinic is welcome news as the deaths from opioid abuse in New Jersey increased 28 percent between 2016 and 2017 to date (according to the CDC).