For a growing number of people with behavioral health needs, the road to treatment of alcohol or substance use disorders begins with a visit to a relatively new clinic at Rhode Island Hospital.
Since it opened last year, the Addiction Care Today center, ACT, has recorded more than 500 visits. These patients come from around the state and from many different demographic backgrounds, according to Dr. Cecilia Fix, Director of Addiction Medicine for Brown University Health, which operates the center.
“We have seen people in all racial and ethnic groups, pretty reflective of the population of Rhode Island overall,” Fix told Ocean State Stories. “We’ve seen quite a few people who are pregnant. We find that we’re a resource for that in the state, which is important. We’ve seen a lot of people who have moved from elsewhere, from other states, who are trying to connect to care.
“We also see a variety of ages. And we take care of adolescents starting at age 16, which is somewhat unique.”
Visits to ACT, located at the Medical Office Center, 2 Dudley Street, Suite 375, in Providence, are available on a drop-in or appointment basis. The hours are Monday through Friday, 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m.
According to its website, ACT, a so-called “bridge” clinic, offers:
- Treatment of any substance use disorder.
- Medications for addiction treatment, currently including buprenorphine (also called Suboxone, Subutex, or Sublocade) and naltrexone (also called Vivitrol). We expect to offer Methadone dosing in the future.
- Outpatient management of withdrawal symptoms.
- Harm reduction services.
- Referrals to peer support.
- Referrals to long-term addiction care.
- Assessment of psychosocial needs.
- Referrals to behavioral health care and social services.
Dr. Rachel Wightman, Consultant Medical Director of the Rhode Island Department of Health, offered praise for the clinic, writing in an email: “Bridge clinic models like Addiction Care Today (ACT) have proven effective in other states, meeting the urgent need for rapid, on-demand services for individuals with substance use disorders.
“ACT at Rhode Island Hospital offers high-quality, accessible care, providing a vital resource for Rhode Islanders in need of immediate support, regardless of their background or circumstances.”
People struggling with alcohol and substance use disorders need an average of seven rounds of treatment before they go into a sustained remission. So treatment the moment the person is ready is critical if we are going to be able to effectively treat this disease.
Although he was not familiar with ACT, former Health Department director Dr. Michael Fine wrote in an email that in general, “people struggling with substance and alcohol use disorders desperately need treatment on demand, which means access to treatment when they are ready, as soon as they are ready, which means drop-in services and street outreach, available 24 hours a day.
“People struggling with alcohol and substance use disorders need an average of seven rounds of treatment before they go into a sustained remission. So treatment the moment the person is ready is critical if we are going to be able to effectively treat this disease.”
ACT director Fix described a typical clinic visit.
“The first person you meet when you come in is our patient navigator, who will sign you in,” she said. “Most patients see one of our social work counselors first, who will meet with you to figure out exactly what services you need. Opioid use disorder gets a lot of attention, but we’ll take care of anyone with any addiction.
“And so part of that visit with the social worker is to decide if you have an addiction that might benefit from medication, in which case you’d need to see (one of our) prescribers. If it’s an addiction that may be more based on treatment using therapy or counseling, then we’ll ensure that you have therapy or counseling.”
Some people do not want to see a social worker, Fix said, in which case “we will bypass that step and they can go straight to speaking to a doctor or a nurse practitioner.”
Fix said visitors to ACT tell staff that they are satisfied.
“We’re getting really positive feedback so far from our patients. We have a team with a lot of experience and we’ve really gone out of our way to try to make people feel like they’re walking into any other doctor’s office visit.”
Editor’s Note: Fix is a member of Brown University Health’s Addiction Medicine Team, whose members include psychologists, therapists, a nurse practitioner, physicians and Dr. Josiah D. ‘Jody’ Rich, the co-founder and senior medical advisor of the Center for Health and Justice Transformation, based at the Watson Institute for International & Public Affairs.
