Monitor Editor
KEYSTONE HEIGHTS—Gov. Ron DeSantis said the state is expanding a successful opioid treatment program to nine counties, including Clay.
He said state agencies ran a successful pilot of the project in Palm Beach County. It is now being expanded to Clay, Brevard, Duval, Escambia, Gulf, Manatee, Marion, Pasco and Volusia counties.
The governor‘s office said that the network of addiction care: coordinated opioid recovery, is the first of its kind in the nation.
The governor made the announcement in Brevard County. He said the host county of Florida’s Space Coast saw a 72% increase in fentanyl-related deaths last year.
Kenneth Scheppke, a deputy secretary at the Florida Department of Health said the program is designed to get patients off what he called the overdose wheel.
“They overdose, 911 is called, the patient is often given some medication to reverse the overdose, they are brought to the emergency department, the doctors and nurses there— great people, well-meaning— wait for the drugs to wear off and tell the patient to stop engaging in that behavior,” Scheppke said. “The patient is discharged, overdoses and the cycle starts all over again.”
Scheppke added that under the new program, instead of being transported to the closest emergency department, overdose patients will be taken to a specialty hospital with personnel trained in opioid addiction.
From there, the patient will be placed into a long-term care facility and will receive treatment for opioid addiction and any underlying problems such as mental health issues.
DeSantis said one of the reasons the nine counties were chosen for the program’s expansion is because each already had some type of opioid response program in their counties.
Clay’s current opioid response program is administered by Fire-Rescue and includes emergency doses of Narcan, up to seven days of buprenorphine and a referral to Clay Behavioral for counseling.
