HEALing Communities

Press Release:

No matter who we are or where we come from, we all know at least one person affected by opioid use disorder (OUD). An estimated 2.1 million Americans have OUD 1. 

Since 2019, there have been 57 fatal opioid overdoses in Genesee County, with additional deaths still pending official causes of death. What many don’t realize is that OUD is a medical disorder characterized by an inability to stop the use of an opioid, despite the negative consequences associated with its use.

HEALing Genesee is committed to reducing opioid overdose deaths. Many families are broken and lives are disrupted due to misuse of opioids. Research findings are clear: medications for opioid use disorder (MOUD) are the single most effective tool to promote long-term recovery.

Recovery from OUD also requires more than willpower, and medications can be part of the solution. Three FDA approved medications – methadone, buprenorphine, and naltrexone – can lower the risk of relapse and overdose.

Evidence shows that these medications reduce or eliminate withdrawal symptoms (methadone, buprenorphine), blunt or block effects of illicit opioids (methadone, naltrexone, buprenorphine), and reduce or eliminate cravings to use opioids (methadone, buprenorphine). 

MOUD treatment can be combined with psychotherapy, support groups, or other treatment opportunities where available. To reduce overdose deaths and the many other destructive effects of opioid use disorder on our community, we must increase the number of people who seek MOUD treatment and who stay in treatment long enough to
recover.

A HEALing Communities Study spokesperson, Johnny, has been taking MOUD for over 5 years as part of his recovery path. During an interview led by study staff, Johnny provided some ways for how he overcame treatment barriers. “At the beginning there were many people who didn’t believe in MOUD.” 

He noted there were many people in his life who believed MOUD was just substituting one drug for another, but it’s not. He says, “Don’t give up. This [MOUD] works. If it doesn’t work for you the first time, try again. Be honest with yourself and your counselors and the people trying to help you. It is your treatment and your recovery. Stay in treatment, your life is worth it!”

You Can Help HEAL our Communities 

How can you help? If you know someone with opioid use disorder, encourage them to seek MOUD. If you know someone who is in MOUD treatment, let them know you support their efforts and recognize the courage it takes to break the cycle of drug dependence. If someone you know has a family member in MOUD treatment, tell them how glad you are to hear it and how you hope their family member stays in that treatment as long as they need it.

Your encouragement matters because one of the reasons that some people leave MOUD treatment too soon, or never enter it at all, is lack of support from family and friends. The notion that MOUD “isn’t real recovery” has prevented too many people from using MOUD to succeed in recovery and there are challenges people in recovery face. Some challenges may include separating from previous drug-using social networks and managing anxiety and depression, withdrawal, and potential occasional relapse events. 

For a person with opioid use disorder, chances of recovery become much greater when MOUD treatment efforts are supported by friends, family, and the connections within their social networks, and transportation, housing, and employment are accessible in the community.

Together, we can HEAL our communities. 

To learn more about the challenges people face with opioid use disorder, and some tips to overcome them, visit www.HealTogetherStories.org to watch the powerful testimonials of people on MOUD in communities like ours. It is up to all of us to help as many people in Genesee County recover from opioid use disorder.

To learn more about the HEALing Communities Study, visit: 

• HEALing Communities Study Website: www.HealTogetherNY.org/Genesee
• GOW Opioid Task Force Website: www.gowopioidtaskforce.org/
• GO Health Facebook: www.facebook.com/GOHealthNY

Press Release:

No matter who we are or where we come from, we all know at least one person affected by opioid use disorder (OUD). An estimated 2.1 million Americans have OUD. 

Since 2019, there have been 53 fatal opioid overdoses in Genesee County, with additional deaths still pending official causes of death.

What many do not realize is that OUD is a medical disorder characterized by an inability to stop the use of an addictive substance, despite the negative consequences associated with its use. Addiction is a chronic brain disease, not a lack of willpower.

Recovery from OUD also requires more than willpower, and medications can be part of the solution. Three FDA approved medications – methadone, buprenorphine, and naltrexone – can lower the risk of relapse and overdose. The longer a person with OUD stays in medication treatment, the greater the chance of a successful recovery.

However, challenges associated with the availability and acceptance of medication treatment exist. To address these challenges, the HEALing Communities Study will launch a campaign from August 7 - October 6 focused on Staying in Medication Treatment.

This unique campaign aims to help people with OUD and needed supporters (e.g., loved ones, treatment providers):

• Understand how important medication treatment can be for recovery from OUD
• Learn how to overcome commonly experienced barriers to treatment retention
• Improve support for those in medication treatment

Throughout the campaign, real people share their compelling stories about how they have overcome challenges to staying in medication treatment. Treatment challenges addressed throughout the campaign include managing anxiety and depression, coping
with cravings and triggers, finding recovery support that accepts medication treatment, and asking for support from loved ones.

“We are so thankful to all of the spokespersons who have shared their powerful stories about their recovery journey and how they have overcome medication treatment challenges,” stated Sherri Bensley, Program Manager for the HEALing Communities Study. “Their stories continue to save lives by inspiring people with opioid use disorder to stay on medication as long as needed.”

You Can Help HEAL our Communities
Everyone can make a difference by staying on medications for opioid use disorder (MOUD) treatment for as long as you need and supporting loved ones in MOUD treatment.

About the HEALing Communities Study
The National Survey on Drug Use and Health estimates that 2.1 million Americans have OUD, yet fewer than 20% of those individuals receive specialty care in a given year. A menu of evidence-based practices (EBPs) exists, including opioid overdose education and naloxone dissemination programs, prescription drug monitoring programs, FDA-approved medications for opioid use disorder.

Unfortunately, these EBPs have largely failed to penetrate community settings. As a result, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) launched the HEALing Communities Study (HCS) to investigate and identify the EBPs for preventing and treating OUD that are most effective at the local level. The goal of the study is to reduce opioid-related overdose deaths by 40 percent over the course of three years.

To learn more about the HEALing Communities Study and to help end overdoses in Genesee County, visit:

• HEALing Communities Study Website: www.HealTogetherNY.org/Genesee
• GOW Opioid Task Force Website: www.gowopioidtaskforce.org/
• GO Health Facebook: www.facebook.com/GOHealthNY

Davis took his first sip of alcohol at the age of 11, escalated his drug use to LSD and ecstasy in his early teens and eventually became addicted to heroin and fentanyl, behavior that resulted in separate stints in rehabilitation, shock camp and prison.

Today, the 43-year-old Davis has been in recovery for more than three years. He has a good job as a certified peer recovery advocate for the Rochester Regional Health system, a loving fiancée, Heather, and a beautiful 18-month-old daughter, MacKenzie.

While his story may seem like the typical “former drug user who went to jail and came out on the other side” variety, there’s much more to it than that when you learn that Davis relied upon his instincts and intellect to turn his life around.

Even before it was accepted as a key component of substance use treatment, Davis said he embraced the concept of “medication for opioid use disorder” – MOUD for short.

In 2012, as he was fighting a losing battle against cocaine and heroin, Davis found out that there was medication available to counteract the hard drugs.

“I had spent time in county jail and nine months in prison shock (camp) after violating probation (stemming from burglary and other felony charges),” he said. “I went on methadone because I could not stop using heroin. The legal system did not understand the importance of medication. They said I was replacing one drug for another.”

Davis said neither law enforcement officials nor counselors supported his desire to use methadone at that time.

“The stigma was alive and well,” he said. “I tried to be responsible on it. It was working for a while. But they didn’t care; they did not approve of it. It was all judgment.”

He went to outpatient and inpatient treatment facilities but all he heard was that he needed to get off hard drugs without any so-called replacement therapy.

“It definitely wasn’t the person-centered care that we have today,” he said.

Davis recalled that he got into drugs as a result of his feelings of isolation as a kid and it only got worse after his mother’s death in 2008.

“After that, I went right to heroin,” he said, adding that it led to the destruction of his marriage six years later.

His legal problems continued as well when he tested positive for heroin and was sent to separate 90-day rehabilitation programs – St. Christopher Inn in Garrison and St. Joseph’s in Saranac Lake.

“During that time, I was using suboxone off and on,” he said, referring to another type of MOUD. “It was really difficult to maintain recovery for 14 months, having no resources, support, peers or maintenance services.”

Short stays in three jails and two more shock camps finally “led me to where I’m at today,” he said. “I was valedictorian (in the camp class) and was successful each time I was evaluated for meeting certain criteria. I am proof that you can bounce back physically.”

He was still living downstate at that time when he was paroled to Batavia in December 2016.

“I was sent to live with my father (David, who died of cancer in January 2021) and my stepmom in Batavia,” he said. “I was able to complete one semester of a college course online as I wanted to become a counselor, while using suboxone.”

Unfortunately for Davis, he hadn’t hit rock bottom yet. He succumbed to his demons once again, and started using crack cocaine, heroin and “a full year hard core on fentanyl,” he said.

“I sold everything that my father had and everything I had, and I drained all the bank accounts,” he noted.

From there, it was on to Hope Haven (a RRH facility) and then to the Atwater Community Residence, a program of Genesee/Orleans Council on Alcoholism and Substance Abuse. He successfully completed his time at Atwater before he was admitted into GCASA’s Supportive Living program for 18 months.

He credits peer advocates and Atwater Residence staff at GCASA for helping him to set some goals and sharing their life experiences.

“They and all the staff at The Recovery Station, another GCASA program, inspired me, motivated me and encouraged me,” he said. “They saw something in me before I could see it myself.”

He also mentioned a close friend, Toby Nagel, who runs The Bridge House in Batavia, for providing a spiritual component.

“Toby was there for me and still is,” he said.

Knowing that he had to stay in recovery to get a job as a peer advocate, he attained that goal in September 2020 when GCASA offered him a position. A year later, he was hired by RRH as a recovery coach, peer advocate who works with clients through Monroe County treatment courts – providing support, transportation and other services.

“It’s a very fulfilling position,” Davis said. “Aside from providing support and encouragement to individuals who accept treatment court and/or are coming out of jail, we provide bed-to-bed transportation for individuals going straight to inpatient from jail.

“Transportation is very important for those who have made that decision to get help, and the peers play a key role by providing not only rides but as caring listeners in these individuals’ road to recovery and a better life.”

As far as MOUD is concerned, Davis was prescribed suboxone.

“I had hard-core cravings for fentanyl and it was my personal choice to go on the suboxone,” he recalled. “I knew that suboxone, at that time, was going to save my life.

“I trusted what the doctor at GCASA said and I could see that he was on my side all the way,” he said. “We had a plan, and I knew I was going to be successful. Today, I am working the plan for my life.”

His advice to others was to not give up because MOUD does work.

“Medication is a vital component to treatment. Anybody can be successful with the right program and support and can maintain a successful life. I don’t know where I would be without MOUD,” he said.

To learn more about the HEALing Communities Study and to help end overdoses in Genesee County, visit:

•           HEALing Communities Study Website: www.HealTogetherNY.org/Genesee

•           GOW Opioid Task Force Website: www.gowopioidtaskforce.org/

•           GO Health Facebook: www.facebook.com/GOHealthNY

Disclosure: Mike Pettinella is the publicist for GCASA.