As part of its efforts to respond to the opioid crisis and substance use disorder in Baltimore, Ascension Saint Agnes employs Peer Recovery Coaches--mentors who can share their stories of recovery from addiction and inspire patients to seek treatment.
“A lot of people come in here and they don’t know the next step, they don’t know where they’re going to go from here and I just want to let them know that there is a chance and there is hope.” Rodney James, Peer Recovery Coach, shared with WJZ-TV.
Rodney and Cassandra Dobbs, LCSW-C, Social Work Manager - Population Health, spoke with reporter Amy Kawata to discuss Ascension Saint Agnes' unique approach to help those suffering from substance use disorder.
1,574 Marylanders died from unintentional drug and alcohol-related deaths in the first 9 months of 2019, according to the Maryland Department of Health and the state’s Opioid Operational Command Center. Baltimore City remains at the epicenter for overdose deaths from opioids in the state of Maryland.
Ascension Saint Agnes began using the Screening, Brief Intervention and Referral to Treatment or SBIRT program in the Emergency Department in 2018. This SBIRT model of care was expanded in 2019 to outpatient OB-GYN practices and the inpatient Labor & Delivery and Mother-Baby units. Saint Agnes also worked to embed the SBIRT screening into every OB/GYN visit to proactively identify substance use disorders earlier in one’s pregnancy and as a part of routine GYN care. Ascension Saint Agnes employs three peer recovery coaches located within the ED and Labor & Delivery unit.
Click here to watch the story on the WJZ-TV website.
