Hospital center boosts treatment in war on heroin

It is the one part of the wonder drug Naloxone no one – other than a few outspoken members of law enforcement – wants to talk about.

Naloxone, of course, is the drug being used to battle the heroin and opioid scourge that is taking such a horrific toll on our communities.

It is used to reverse the effects of a heroin overdose, in many instances to literally reach out across death’s door and bring an overdose victim back to life.

Its use was first pushed in Delaware County. The county Heroin Task Force worked to get Naloxone, or its generic twin Narcan, in most police cruisers and the hands of most first responders in the county.

Then it was placed in state police cruisers. Now, much of the state is using it to save lives.

Delaware County officers or first responders used Naloxone 301 times last year to revive a suspected overdose victim.

So what’s wrong with that? Absolutely nothing. In fact, we hail this new life-saving technique.

But it does leave an unanswered question, one often murmured by law enforcement officials.

What happens after a person is revived?

While saving a life is nice, police say too often an addict simply will veer back to the same kind of dangerous practices that put him or her on death’s door in the first place. They lament the lack of treatment facilities for those dealing with the deadly tentacles of opioid addiction.

That’s why something that happened last week is so important.

Call it the next crucial step in the war on heroin.

So again in Delaware County, officials joined with the folks at Crozer Keystone Health System to roll out a new treatment unit specifically used to deal with opioid and heroin addiction.

The First Steps Treatment Center, located at CrozerChester Medical Center in Upland, is a 52-bed unit in the West Wing of the Hospital. It’s being funded by a million dollars from Washington and Harrisburg.

Dr. Kevin Caputo is vice president of Behavioral Health and chairman of Psychiatry at Crozer. He notes the name of the facility is not an accident, calling the new facility literally the first steps to recovery with both shortand long-term treatment options.

On the second floor of the unit will be 12 beds for in-patient, non-hospital detoxification and 20 beds for in-patient, non-hospital rehabilitation.

The first floor will have 10 beds each for in-patient detox and in-patient rehab and treatment.

The center will operate with a staff of 53, which will include nurses, doctors, social workers and other personnel.

The numbers in this battle continue to go in the wrong direction.

Despite its efforts, Delaware County recorded 227 heroin-opioid-related deaths in 2016. That’s up from 204 in 2015.

More than 500 lives have been saved by use of Naloxone by first responders.

Now it’s time to make sure that once revived, there is treatment available for that person to eradicate the behavior that is leading to the problem.

Too often law enforcement tells us they see the same people reverting to the same behavior, a vicious circle that often ends up with a person overdosing again.

The goal now is not only to revive an overdose victim, but to offer another path, through treatment for their addiction.

The First Steps Treatment Center at Crozer is a huge step in the right direction in the war on heroin.

We welcome its arrival, and just as other efforts that started in Delaware County have spread, we hope to see more resources become available for treatment in Chester and Montgomery counties as well.

The fight against heroin is a war; we must continue to go into battle.

The goal now is not only to revive an overdose victim, but to offer another path, through treatment for their addiction.