In the field

Let’s Get Real has a sixmember working board with Marnie Butler of Avon Lake; Jennifer Digiandomenico and Larry Heller of Cleveland; John Benko of Vermilion; and Ken Blackman

of North Ridgeville.

They said the organization works best when they can meet addicts and families where they are. They work with board member Fred Weimer of Elyria.

There are four part-time outreach workers who answer the telephone.

Eberle oversees a dozen peer support specialists/recovery coaches who work with people seeking help.

Staff working with Let’s Get Real are in recovery or are allies to those struggling with addictions, often family members and friends.

“Our work is where the addiction meets families and people,” Benko said. “Our work is in the field. We’re knee-deep in Lorain.”

When people overdose on drugs, hospital emergency rooms are good places to stabilize their medical conditions.

But those are not the places for long-term treatment, Heller said, citing best practices suggested by the National Institutes of Health and National Institute on Drug Abuse.

If a drug user gets released from the hospital and doesn’t get into a program, they go back to what they know — using drugs, Heller and Butler said.

“There’s a very narrow window of opportunity when someone wants help,” Heller said.