PROVIDENCE – CODAC Behavioral Healthcare is venturing outside of Rhode Island by offering its adult correctional institution program in Massachusetts.
By bringing the program to the Hampden County House of Corrections in Ludlow, CODAC hopes to make an impact on the opioid crisis in the Bay State.
The treatment model is credited with reducing post-incarceration overdose death rates by 61% at the R.I. Department of Corrections.
As part of the program, which was instituted at the jail at the beginning of this month, inmates suffering from opioid-use disorder have access to buprenorphine, methadone and naltrexone, and work with clinicians and nurses. Counseling and discharge planning are available as well.
“We are looking to build a stronger community by replicating the success of our medication-assisted treatment program at the adult correctional institutions in Rhode Island,” said Linda Hurley, CEO and president of CODAC. “If we can work toward reducing overdoses, we can help make families stronger, reduce incarcerations and save taxpayers from additional costs that can be tied to addiction.”
Integral to the program’s success is inmates’ ability and willingness to establish post-release relationships with health care providers, said CODAC senior administrator Dustin Alvanas.
“Individuals who are released from prison without connections to care face a greater risk for experiencing an overdose. Continuing a treatment plan outside of the prison will assist these individuals in staying on their path to recovery,” said Alvanas, who also serves as CODAC’s vice president of operations.
