Addiction programs adapt to meet pandemic challenges

A National Institutes of Health examination earlier this year of death certificates in the U.S. showed a sharp rise in alcohol-related deaths between 1999 and 2017.

Connecticut mirrored those numbers, and addiction organizations stepped up their efforts to reach those in need.

Then came the pandemic. Treatment centers, support groups and the state suddenly were ordered to shut down.

“We like to say the opposite of addiction is connection,” said Thomas Russo, spokesman for the Connecticut Community for Addiction Recovery . “We are still here to support the recovery community.”

For people struggling with addiction, the pandemic brings unique challenges. Anxiety can trigger an urge to indulge, as can the loneliness brought on by social distancing and sheltering in place.

Sales of alcoholic beverages have skyrocketed during the pandemic, according to the research firm Nielsen. Online alcohol sales were up by 243 percent in the sevenweek period ending April 18 over the same period a year ago, and brick-andmortar alcohol sales were up by 21 percent for the same period, Nielsen reported. There were three times as many online buyers in the two weeks ending April 18 than there were in the two weeks ending Feb. 29, according to Nielsen.

At CCAR’s Bridgeport

location, the busiest of its five centers, Russo said about 16,000 people come through its doors annually.

In early June, the centers began a partial reopening. Russo said the facility is open from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., with reduced capacity, temperatures taken at the door and masks required. He said they are doing some things, such as recovery coaching, on the facility’s porch, and said CCAR will offer full services, and be open from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., beginning the week of July 13.

While the facility was closed due to COVID-19 restrictions, the staff worked to reach the people who rely on CCAR, Russo said. They created Facebook groups for each center from CCAR’s main Facebook page (ccar4recovery), stepped

up existing telephone recovery support services, and began holding virtual meetings. The number of participants varies; on the high end, some sessions have had up to 50 attendees, Russo said.

Like CCAR, Alcoholics Anonymous offered digital meetings when live meetings were banned. Established AA groups also regularly maintain contact via phone, email and social media.

The NIH analysis of death certificates found that the rate of alcoholrelated deaths among people ages 16 and older doubled, from 35,914 to 72,558, between 1999 and 2017. The National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism said an estimated 88,000 people (approximately 62,000 men and 26,000 women) die from alcohol-related causes annually, making alcohol the third-leading preventable cause of death in the United

States. The first is tobacco. The second is poor diet and physical inactivity.

According to the United Health Foundation’s 2019 annual health rankings, in Connecticut, 15.7 percent of women and 22.6 percent of men reported drinking to excess.

“In general, Connecticut is mirroring what is seen in the U.S.: an approximate doubling of alcohol-related deaths,” said Karyn Backus, an epidemiologist with the state Department of Public Health.

Significant overlap exists between alcohol and drug users, as the NIH analysis revealed. In 2017, the nation’s overdose deaths from a combination of alcohol and other drugs totaled 10,596, about 15 percent of total alcohol-related deaths.

In 2019, DMHAS launched a program that regularly deploys an RV

and three vans to highneed spots in Hartford, Bridgeport, Torrington and the greater Milford area.

During the state’s lockdown, the Torrington and Milford vans ceased operations. The medical personnel who work on the RV serving Hartford communicate with individuals through a screen door unless they are seeking treatment. Then individuals come into the van one at a time, said Mark Jenkins, founder of the Greater Hartford Harm Reduction Coalition.

“We are posting on Twitter and Facebook the number to contact us for treatment,” said Marcy Hotchkiss of Bridges Healthcare, which operates the Milford-based mobile clinic. Both the Torrington and Milford vans should begin operations very soon, said Lauren Siembab, opioid services coordinator for DMHAS.