One Health Ohio Extends Range of Care with Rise Recovery
LIBERTY TOWNSHIP, Ohio – After the state of Ohio was ranked second in the nation for the number of opioid overdose deaths in 2017, Maria Kowal, chief medical officer of One Health Ohio, and the health-care organization’s employees began working to address the crisis.
That planning led to the opening of Rise Recovery at 3132 Belmont Ave. in January and, in early June, a second site at 1032 E. Market St. in Warren..
“We saw a need in our state, in our community, and we’re excited to have the resources to help combat addiction,” said Kowal.
“It fits in with our integrative model of health-care delivery,” added Dr. Ronald Dwinnells, CEO of One Health Ohio at the ribbon cutting Wednesday for the Belmont Avenue site. “We had medical and dental for many years. We added behavioral health a few years ago. And now we have the medication-assisted treatment.”
Nine clinicians, 10 nurses, several behavioral health counselors, chemical dependency counselor assistants, social workers and support staff take the integrated approach to care, Kowal said. One Health Ohio employees are treating patients not only with addiction needs, but through the medical, dental and behavioral health needs One Health also provides.
“It’s a very intensive thing,” said Christopher Broderick, director of the medication-assisted program and a nurse practitioner at One Health Ohio. “We offer medication and counseling with [chemical dependency counselors]. We bring in therapy dogs to make the experience better for the patient.”
Some college students are among the employees and they are coming up with ideas to help patients ranging in age from teenagers to those in their 70s. Future goals include expanding services into Columbiana County, Hepatitis C treatment in-house and bringing in pediatricians.
The future of health-care delivery, Dwinnells said, is about addressing social determinants – the sociological causes of disease and illness. With One Health serving as a health-care delivery program, addressing the causes of patients’ drug addictions, rather than simply the addiction itself, is going to be important, he added.
“This is a way we should all practice medicine,” he said. “The teeth are not separate from the body, it’s not separate from the mind. It’s all integrated. This fits in with our ongoing, evolving model. We need to look at the population as a whole in terms of health-care delivery.”
The addiction treatment centers in Liberty Township and Warren have served more than 2,500 people since opening. In addition, medical clinics offering treatment for diabetes, asthma and illnesses are available for adults and children in Warren and Youngstown, Newton Falls, Alliance and Cortland.
“We have quite a number of uninsured patients that seek our services,” Kowal said. “We have a sliding fee scale, so we make health-care affordable for all who need it.”
Patients with Medicare, Medicaid, those who are uninsured or those with commercial health insurance are able to access Rise Recovery’s services.
“It’s a pleasure to be able to treat the community and hopefully we keep going in the right direction,” Broderick said. “We saw a need for treatment of opioid abuse in the area and we’re trying to do it the best way possible.”
Pictured: One Health Ohio CEO Dr. Ron Dwinnells says the health-care organization’s philosophy of total health is served well with the addition of Rise Recovery.
Copyright 2024 The Business Journal, Youngstown, Ohio.
