Overdose deaths have been a tragic headline for many years. Thankfully, many communities are responding, using programs like Mobile Integrated Healthcare (MIH) to lead the charge in combatting overdose. In this article, you’ll learn the techniques MIH programs use to prevent overdose deaths and build healthier cities.
Mobile Integrated health teams are uniquely suited to combat overdose as they function well in the uncertain out-of-hospital environment and are adaptable to a wide range of patient needs. MIH teams are combatting overdose by treating it like a sickness (not a crime), addressing root causes, and providing follow-up care to those who have overdosed.
How Do Community Paramedic-Mobile Integrated Health Programs Help With Combatting Overdose
While the substance abuse and overdose situation is bleak, we are not without some hope. Due to several efforts, overdoses have been reduced in some areas. Mobile Integrated Health teams hope to see these trends continue, with fewer and fewer drug overdose deaths in years to come.
The factors that come into play regarding when and how a person might overdose are many (and can be overwhelming); however, MIH programs avoid letting the sheer size of the problem discourage them. Like many problems in this life, Mobile Integrated Health teams work to prevail by taking the small victories and continuing to move forward.
Here are several ways that Mobile integrated healthcare is combatting overdose:
- Mobile Integrated Health treats substance abuse more like a disease (instead of a crime)
- Addressing the root cause of substance use and overdose (homelessness/chronic disease)
- Providing overdose follow-up teams such as PORT Programs
- Reducing negative police response to overdose to combat overdose
- Protecting patient privacy and building trust to combat overdose stigma
- Training and distributing of Narcan to prevent and correct overdose
Now, we’ll unpack each of these methods and examine their parts.
Mobile Integrated Health Treats Substance Abuse Like a Disease (Instead of a Crime)
For a long time, the government has attempted to solve the problem of drugs and substance abuse with legal force. While there is certainly some value to laws protecting from illegal substances, it is often counterintuitive to take someone who has overdosed and then (instead of treating them for a sickness) prosecute them for a crime.
Mobile Integrated Health teams work differently. Instead of telling victims of an overdose that they need to “get their act together–or else,” they try to work from the ground up, asking, “How did we get here? What does the path to freedom and long-term health look like?”
We know that overdose and substance abuse is a problem all over society, rich and poor, old and young. As such, MIH programs understand that addiction is a complex issue. Indeed, there are patterns, but they are not like viruses or bacteria. Addiction and overdose afflict people for many different reasons.
That’s why the first step Mobile Integrated Health Teams take in helping someone who has overdosed is by asking, “How can we help?”
Addressing the Root Cause of Substance Use and Overdose
After an MIH team starts to uncover the cause of addiction and overdose, they will work to address the underlying issue. Let’s review some examples to see how this might work in a real-world scenario.
A man named John has overdosed. The MIH team will visit his house several days later for a follow-up. During their assessment, they found that John struggles with chronic back pain and doesn’t have a reliable way to fulfill his legal prescriptions each month.
With this information, the MIH team can now formulate a plan to offer care for his chronic pain and have a community paramedic help him fill his prescription each month. With this new method, John is now less likely to turn to dangerous illicit medications to control his pain, and he has a service that will come into his home to provide regular checkups.
We’ve just used chronic pain for this example, but it could be many things. Perhaps the person has unmanaged mental health struggles, or maybe they don’t have reliable housing and find themselves turning to substances to cope. Whatever the reason, MIH teams can work to alleviate the issue.
Providing Overdose Follow Up Teams Such as PORT Programs
Let’s continue our study of the overdose victim we discussed in the last sections, John. John overdosed and was nearly dead. It was only the quick work of EMTs and medics to assist his breathing and administer Narcan (Naloxone) that brought him back.
After John recovered at the hospital, he was discharged home. Let’s stop here. In many cases, that is the end of the story. John is discharged home, and he’s left with no support. What do you think happens in this case?
He’s much more likely to have a relapse and an overdose recurrence, which leads us to our next method MIH uses to combat overdose: Post Overdose Response Teams. Or PORT for short.
PORT teams go to the person’s home (usually around 72 hours after the overdose) and check in on them, offering any support if they want it. In some cases, they may organize the patient’s transition to rehab. In other cases, they might provide the person with regular follow-up care.
As you can see, these post-overdose teams are a vital resource when it comes to preventing another overdose from occurring.
Reducing Negative Police Response to Overdose to Improve Long-term Care
The police have become a vital asset in responding to and preventing overdoses. Part of this is that there has been a shift in how police officers see overdose. Just like many medical providers, law enforcement officers now primarily treat overdose as a disease rather than a crime.
With that said, law enforcement can still cause uneasiness in the patient. For example, many people who have overdosed will be reluctant to admit that they took anything for fear of criminal prosecution. Also, the presence of police can sometimes raise anxiety in a patient who has just been involved in an overdose.
Mobile integrated healthcare seeks to improve the police-patient relationship. They do this by creating co-responder programs that will have a CIT trained police officer with a partner who understands mental healthcare. This shifts the focus and often reduces the tension that the presence of a uniformed officer can cause.
Now, let’s talk about stigma.
Protecting Patient Privacy and Building Trust While Combatting Overdose and the Stigma Surrounding It
Sadly, there is still a stigma around substance abuse and overdose. Why is this a problem? Well, it means that many people who are on a deadly pathway to overdose will not reach out. To understand how dangerous a stigma can be, imagine something. . .
Imagine that everyone who had chest pain was afraid to tell anyone. The number of heart attack deaths would soar. The reason? The effective prevention of heart attack deaths is built on early recognition and early treatment.
How does Mobile Integrated Health help with combatting overdose? Several ways. First, which is one we already discussed, they stop talking about substance abuse as a crime. Second, they start performing routine screenings for substance abuse when they are assessing all their patients (even those who may not have any known substance abuse issues).
With this method, MIH teams work to assure their patients that their answers are safe with them and that people don’t need to fear legal retribution or social stigmatization just because they chose to disclose that they were struggling with a substance addiction.
All these methods work together to uncover those people who are most at risk and, ultimately, prevent dangerous overdoses.
Training and Distributing of Narcan to Prevent Overdose
One of the ways that MIH teams will work to prevent overdose is by training people in emergency care for those who have overdosed. Some people who have experienced overdose also know others who may struggle with substance abuse and also be at risk. They accomplish two things by training anyone they can to provide rescue breaths and administer Narcan.
First, the obvious: more people know what to do when they are faced with an overdose, leading to more lives saved.
Second, the training provides the person with a visceral understanding of how dangerous an overdose is and why it’s so critical to seek effective rehabilitation.
Conclusion: Can Mobile Integrated Health Really Reduce Overdoses?
Mobile Integrated Health teams are like soldiers on the front lines, combatting overdoses and saving lives. How do they do it? By treating overdose as a disease, looking for root causes, providing follow up, and ensuring that victims of overdoses have the resources they need to find real recovery.
Another way that MIH combats overdose is by bringing the resources of the community together, ensuring that people have access to social workers, mental healthcare, and rehab professionals.
Contact Julota to learn more about how their platform brings people together and helps Mobile Integrated Health teams accomplish their goals.