NJ Spotlight News (February 11, 2021) covering the increase in opioid usage and related deaths due to isolation, job loss, and increased anxiety during the coronavirus pandemic.
Katherine Coleman, VP of Addiction Recovery Services at Care Plus NJ says, “We have seen people restricting access to care, so people are not accessing hospitals as they used to. People are detoxing at home. People are overdosing at home by themselves. People are afraid to access treatment because obviously, there are very real fears that come with COVID.”
Coleman goes on to say, “In the pandemic we saw that a lot of these restrictions that were put into place to protect clients were actually hindering them and were making it difficult to continue these prescriptions. For instance, if a client couldn’t come on site to be physically in-person monitored by a prescriber, that might mean they may not have access to the buprenorphine or suboxone to which they were prescribed to which was helping them maintain their recovery efforts.”
CarePlus NJ, INC. is dedicated to excellence in mental healthcare and has a commitment to life-long support needed by individuals and their families to ensure that they achieve their full potential and improve the quality of their lives.
