Latest news with #TheDoorway
Yahoo
5 days ago
- Health
- Yahoo
Elliot to operate The Doorway in Manchester starting July 1
Elliot Health System announced Thursday it has been selected to operate the Manchester location of The Doorway, a statewide program that connects people to treatment and recovery services for substance use. The transition will officially take place on July 1. The Doorway is a statewide network coordinated by the state Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS), with nine regional hubs offering access to screening, evaluation, treatment options and ongoing recovery support. The Greater Manchester location is currently located at 60 Rogers St., Suite 210. 'Assuming leadership of The Doorway aligns with our mission,' said Dr. Gregory Baxter, president & CEO of Elliot Health System, 'and we are ready to strengthen this critical access point, enhance coordination and ensure every person who reaches out is met with timely, effective support.' Officials at Elliot Health System said that under the leadership of Annette Escalante, director of substance use services, The Doorway will be 'positioned within a continuum of services' that includes behavioral health, crisis stabilization, and care coordination, 'making it easier for individuals to get the help they need at any stage of recovery.' Martha Dodge, senior vice president and chief nursing executive said Elliot is 'preparing to serve approximately 1,500 individuals annually, and we are committed to ensuring each person receives timely, respectful, and effective care.' For the past five years, the state has received about $28 million annually to address substance use disorders. The Doorway is part of that response. In 2024, New Hampshire's two largest cities recorded the lowest number of overdoses in a year since the COVID pandemic. There were 710 suspected overdoses in Manchester and Nashua in 2024 — 526 of those occurred in Manchester, 184 in Nashua, according to data released by American Medical Response, which provides ambulance services to both cities. Sixty-six overdoses last year were fatal — 46 in Manchester, 20 in Nashua. Nashua recorded both the lowest number of suspected opioid overdoses and lowest number of suspected opioid deaths in one year since AMR began tracking the data in 2015. pfeely@
Fox News
24-02-2025
- Health
- Fox News
My state is conquering the opioid crisis. Other states need to do the same
Most people understand that our country is facing a crisis of opioid addiction and deaths. To combat this, you need proven solutions and resources. Yet, a lot of the money that is supposed to be spent combating that crisis is instead sitting idle in government bank accounts. This isn't taxpayer money; it's part of a legal settlement that companies who were accused of recklessly fueling the opioid crisis agreed to pay to provide some relief to those communities ravaged by addiction. In late January, Purdue Pharma and the Sackler family agreed to increase the amount they're paying to $7.4 billion. But many states and localities are sitting on millions that they seem oddly hesitant to spend. Every state has money to distribute. Since 2021, companies involved in manufacturing and distributing legal opioids, along with some pharmacies, have agreed to pay approximately $50 billion in total settlements. I was governor for eight years in New Hampshire, and the smartest thing to combat this crisis was to not hesitate. We don't have all the answers regarding addiction, but we've made progress with the rest of the country has stalled. When I took office in 2017, we had the second-highest opioid overdose death rate in the country. Since that time, our overdose death rate has dropped over 30%, while the national average continued to climb. We now rank twenty-second, and we have the lowest overdose death rate in New England. (Recently, for the first time in years, the national opioid death rate has begun to decline.) When I took office, heroin and opioid pills were cheap; those who tried to recover couldn't get help. Waiting lists for treatment were more than six weeks long. I went right to the people on the front lines of the crisis to find the answers. They knew that addicts could best be reached right after an overdose. If there was no readily available treatment, their patterns would just continue. Two essential changes helped us lower our rate. We changed our approach to treatment beginning in 2019 through what we call The Doorway program. This new system design was founded on one critical thesis, rural access to care was the greatest barrier to functional addicts. Addiction rates were far greater in rural areas than anything seen in our small cities, but all the resources and treatment programs were located in the cities and out of reach of the average citizen. With nine regional Doorway locations, help is always within an hour's reach for anyone in the state. The program is funded primarily through the federal State Opioid Response (SOR) grant, and has let us expand the use of medicine, peer support and techniques for prevention. In the first six months, more than 3,200 people sought help through the Doorway, and monthly client numbers continue to rise. By destigmatizing addiction and simplifying the process for seeking help, the program helped cut the numbers of overdoses and deaths. Police officers and treatment experts can't be everywhere all the time, so we also invested over $3 million to put naloxone, which can reverse the effects of opioids in someone who has overdosed, just about everywhere we could. Early in my administration, we decided that if our streets were to be flooded with deadly drugs like fentanyl, we needed to flood them with life-saving opioid reversal medicines. We then changed our laws to ensure that all first responders, whether they be fire or police, could administer life-saving naloxone, without fear of unnecessary training or liability concerns. When I took office in 2017, we had the second-highest opioid overdose death rate in the country. Since that time, our overdose death rate has dropped over 30%, while the national average continued to climb. New Hampshire also became the first state to install NaloxBoxes in public spaces, for first responders, but also anyone who might overdose. Our Good Samaritan laws also allowed numerous instances where naloxone was administered by bystanders before emergency services arrived and directly saved lives. Ken Trogdon, whose nonprofit HarborPath works with states and organizations to distribute naloxone where it's most needed, emphasizes its importance. "As a nation, we need to get this life-saving drug within arm's length of everyone who might potentially need it. Unfortunately, that means we basically need it everywhere," he says. To date, states have received approximately $6 billion of the $50 billion they are slated to receive from opioid settlements. Yet reports suggest that as much as a third or even half of these funds remain unspent. That's not good enough. I implore governors and mayors across the country to not hesitate, think creatively, and find results-driven solutions similar to what we put here in New Hampshire to increase access to life-saving care. The strategies we've implemented are working, and no one across America can afford for this fight to be halfhearted.
