National and Local Statistics
- Opioids were involved in 33,091 deaths nationally in 2015.
- Opioid overdoses have quadrupled since 1999.
- Opioid overdoses rose by 20.4 percent between 2014 and 2015 in New York.
- Approximately three out of four new heroin users abused prescription opioids prior to using heroin.
- Every day, more than 1,000 people are treated in emergency departments for misusing prescription opioids.
- Approximately 2 million Americans abuse or are dependent on prescription opioids.
- Heroin use has more than doubled in the past decade among young adults aged 18 to 25 years.
- On an average day in the U.S., 3,900 people begin nonmedical use of prescription opioids and 580 people initiate heroin use.
Source: U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2015 data
For the last few years, UHS has been operating its medication assisted treatment program for opioid use disorder at maximum capacity. Methadone treatment requires close monitoring, and once the 150-patient limit mandated by the state had been reached, incoming patients had to wait for an opening.
Now the New Horizons Alcohol & Chemical Dependency Treatment Center has relocated and expanded its services thanks, in part, to the addition of a second medication in the treatment regimen. The clinic has been approved to treat patients with buprenorphine/naloxone (brand name Suboxone), so there is no longer a limit on the number of patients that can be treated.
The protocol for treatment with Suboxone allows patients to be treated primarily on an outpatient basis. At first, patients visit the clinic five to seven days a week for medication and intensive behavioral counseling. Once the patient is stabilized, he or she may be referred to a primary care physician (PCP) who has been licensed to provide Suboxone in their office.
DON’T WAIT
Call 762-2901 to get more information or to schedule an appointment.
