Group Urges Nevadans to Reach Out for Alcohol and Other Drug Treatment

Christy McGill likes to use a gardening metaphor when she explains Healthy Communities Coalition of Lyon and Storey's mission to reduce substance abuse and promote recovery.

“The Coalition is planting the seeds of hope that alcohol, tobacco and other drug abuse prevention works, treatment is effective, and people do recover,” said McGill, who serves as director.

Support for recovery is available in our area, McGill stresses, both inpatient and outpatient, with affordable sliding fee scales at outpatient clinics like Lyon Council on Alcohol and Other Drugs (toll free 1-866-831-2774) and nearby inpatient facilities New Frontier Treatment Center in Fallon, www.churchillrecovery.org and Bristlecone Family Resources in Reno (775) 954-1400.

Waiting lists at centers such as Lyon Council on Alcohol and Other Drugs for outpatient treatment, and at New Frontier for inpatient treatment, are normally short and both offer sliding fee scales. Christy McGill, director of Healthy Communities Coalition, stressed that “alcohol and drug treatment centers prioritize treatment for pregnant women and will move them to the front of any waiting lists.” Bristlecone in nearby Reno may be especially helpful for pregnant women seeking treatment because it offers modified-medical detoxification in which the patient’s withdrawal is supervised by nursing staff

Why is it Important to Increase Prevention, Intervention and Treatment? Alcohol and other drug addition is a serious health issue in the U.S. About 8 percent of the U.S. population, or at least 24,000,000, are struggling with serious addiction issues with alcohol or other drugs, according to Thomas McLellan, Deputy Director of ONDCP (Office of National Drug Control Policy). To put that number into perspective, that’s roughly the number of people with diabetes, which is commonly understood as a public health epidemic.

Part of the key to reducing alcohol and other drug addiction is early screening and subsequent intervention with children who have suffered from trauma and other difficulties and become vulnerable to using drugs and alcohol as teens and adults in a misguided effort to lessen anxiety, depression, and hopelessness, according to researchers at SAMHSA (Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration).

What Is Healthy Communities Coalition? Healthy Communities Coalition includes partners and members from education, health, mental health, justice, prevention and treatment organizations, among others, who work together to create an integrated community response to increase the health and well-being of Lyon and Storey communities. It is funded, in part, through SAPTA (Substance Abuse Prevention & Treatment Agency)

A key part of the Coalition’s purpose is to create “prevention prepared communities” that interpret local data correctly in order to bring missing resources to the area and implement those resources efficiently. Some of the issues partners and members have worked on together recently that are related to preventing and/or treating alcohol and other drug addiction include:

— Improving access to inpatient and outpatient treatment for addiction and mental illness
— Improving awareness of sexual assault recovery services for children and adults
— Increasing suicide prevention training and outreach
— Increasing business education and compliance with alcohol laws
— Increasing youth leadership in alcohol and other drug abuse prevention
— Increasing availability of parenting classes and early childhood education workshops
— Increasing youth employment and job training
— Increasing community access to positive activities such as art and recreation
— Improving access to rural mental health care
— Improving access to student assistance services such as counseling
— Increasing and communicating community support for military families
— Increasing access to behavioral health care and primary health care for veterans, including Post Traumatic Stress and Traumatic Brain Injury treatment
— Creating opportunities for giving back (reciprocity) through volunteering and service learning
— Developing prisoner re-entry plans
— Participating in prescription drug, meth, alcohol (and alcoholic energy drink), and tobacco abuse prevention campaigns.

For more information about the Coalition, please see www.healthycomm.org or www.facebook.com/healthycommunitiescoalition.

List of Recovery Help in Northern Nevada:

Prenatal Care
Prenatal medical care is critical for any pregnant woman, and especially so for a substance-abusing pregnant woman. If you are having difficulties obtaining prenatal care, the Nevada Health Division maintains a toll-free telephone number to assist you in finding a health care provider and resources to help you pay for your prenatal care: (800) 429-2669.

Substance Abuse Help Line
The Substance Abuse Help Line is co-sponsored by the Crisis Call Center and Join Together of Northern Nevada. The Help Line provides referral to substance abuse treatment resources throughout the state, including, but not limited to, Nevada Substance Abuse Prevention and Treatment Agency programs described in the next listing. The Help Line can be reached 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, at (775) 825-4357.

Nevada Substance Abuse Prevention & Treatment Agency
SAPTA provides grant funding to a number of treatment programs throughout the state. All (except a residential program for men) serve pregnant women and provide admission priority to them. Some provide specialized services for pregnant women and women with dependent children. Services available range from outpatient treatment to social-model detoxification and residential treatment.

Fees at SAPTA-funded programs are based upon a sliding scale of fees, and no person can be denied treatment services due to inability to pay. For further information contact SAPTA at (775) 684-4190 or (702) 486-8250.

Detoxification
If a person is severely addicted to alcohol or other drugs, there may be health hazards associated with withdrawal. Withdrawal can be especially hazardous for a fetus.

The Substance Abuse Prevention & Treatment Agency (see listing above) funds a number of non-hospital detoxification programs. One of these programs, Bristlecone Family Resource Center, may be especially appropriate for pregnant women because it offers modified-medical detoxification in which the patient’s withdrawal is supervised by nursing staff:

Bristlecone Family Resource Center
480 Galletti Way, Bldg. 3, 4
Sparks, NV 89431
(775) 786-6563

Each of the two hospitals listed below have inpatient detoxification programs so that the person is under hospital care during withdrawal, and each accepts Medicaid:

Carson Tahoe Hospital
Behavioral Health Unit
Building B
West Williams at North Minnesota
Carson City, NV 89703
(775) 885-4460

Renown Medical Center
Lifeskills Program
850 Mill Street
Reno, NV 895(775) 982-5318

Methadone Maintenance Treatment
Methadone Maintenance is considered by many to be the treatment of choice for pregnant women addicted to opiates such as heroin. Each of the Methadone clinics listed below serves pregnant women and some accept Medicaid. Nevada Treatment Center and the Adelson Clinic receive funding from the Substance Abuse Prevention & Treatment Agency (SAPTA), so they bill on a sliding scale of fees and cannot deny services to those unable to pay.

Adelson Clinic
3661 S. Maryland Parkway, Suite 64
Las Vegas, NV 89109
(702) 735-0184

American Therapeutic Association
1570 Sullivan
Sparks, NV 89431
(775) 355-7734

Center for Behavioral Health
160 Hubbard Way, Suite A
Reno, NV 89502
(775) 829-4472

Nevada Treatment Center
1721 E. Charleston Blvd.
Las Vegas, NV 89104
(702) 382-4226

Smoking cessation counseling/support by telephone
Nevada Tobacco Users Helpline
University of Nevada School of Medicine
(888) 866-6642 (Toll Free from outside Las Vegas)