Opioid Users    Currently in Treatment

Opioid Users in Treatment

How prepared is your treatment facility in the case of an emergency?

Disasters place disproportionate stresses on disadvantaged populations who more readily experience resource loss and health risks during emergency situations. Currently several million Americans misuse prescription opioids and heroin, and that number continues to rise as the United States faces an opioid epidemic. People who use opioids, including 400,000 opioid treatment program (OTP) patients receiving medication-assisted treatment (MAT), constitute a particularly vulnerable population, and yet disaster and planning research has only recently begun to address the considerable public health risks faced by these individuals and their communities when services are disrupted. The aim in providing these guides is to assist OTPs, harm reduction agencies, and local communities in educating people who use opioids about disaster preparedness best practices to prevent overdose, relapse, and infectious disease transmission, including HIV and hepatitis C.

in-treatment flowchart

Basic Guidelines for Better Preparedness

Request a copy of your program’s emergency procedures. If they do not have one available, request your counselor’s assistance in creating your own.

Collect information on the following. If anything is unclear, request clarification:

How does your program contact you in the event of an emergency, and how will you contact them? For example, are any radio stations broadcasting changes in program scheduling? Is there a website? Is there an emergency phone number?
Under what circumstances will you be permitted take-home medication? Are there exceptions to the policy?
Are there alternative routes to the program? Does my program have a special relationship with any bus or taxi companies?
What other programs are close to where I live? What services do they provide and how can they be integrated (e.g. food, MAT, sterile syringes….) Does our program have any relationship with them? Visit those programs before an emergency strikes, so you have a level of comfort with the route and the facilities. What type of identity verification will I need to guest dose there in the event of an emergency? Where’s the closest emergency room, and does my program have a relationship with them?

Make sure your counselor has updated contact information so they can reach you.

Make sure you feel confident you have the right information to reach them

If necessary, be sure to always have a stockpile of sterile works, including clean cottons, cookers, and syringes.

Discuss the possibility of getting a naloxone kit and instructions for its use. Naloxone can safely reverse a drug overdose with an easy-to-use nasal atomizer or intramuscular syringe.

Recommendations for You and Questions to Ask Your Treatment Facility



Emergency Procedures

Can you get a copy of your program’s emergency procedures? If they do not have one available, request your counselor’s assistance in creating your own.

Methods of Contact

How will your program will contact you in the event of an emergency and how will you contact them? For example, are any radio stations broadcasting changes in program scheduling? Is there a website? Is there an emergency phone number?

Contact Information

Does your counselor have updated contact information so they can reach you? Do you have the right information to reach them.

Take Home Doses

Under what circumstances will you be permitted take home doses of medication? Are there exceptions to the policy?

Transportation

Are there alternative routes to the facility? Learn additional routes to your facility in case frequently used routes are closed/altered. Does your program have a special relationship with any local bus or taxi companies? Prepare alternate ways to get to your treatment facility in case frequently used transportation providers are not in service.

Reciprocal Dosing

What needs and services do they provide and how can they be integrated into your emergency planning? What type of identification and treatment verification requirements will I need to guest-dose there in the event of an emergency? Keep (laminated) copies of treatment verification in a safe, secure place for emergencies. Where’s the closest emergency room, and is there an agreement between it and your program to provide you treatment assistance?

Naloxone Overdose (OD) Kit

Discuss the possibility of getting a naloxone kit and instructions for its use. Naloxone can safely reverse a drug overdose with an easy-to-use nasal atomizer or intramuscular syringe.

Clean Works

If using illicit drugs, be sure to always have a stockpile of clean works, including clean cottons, cookers, and syringes.

Resources

Public Health Emergency

These resources can help individuals, families, and communities prepare, respond and recover.

Disaster Distress Hotline

SAMHSA’s Disaster Distress Helpline provides 24/7, 365-day-a-year crisis counseling/support to people experiencing emotional distress related to disasters.

Prevention Point Pittsburgh

Prevention Point Pittsburgh is a harm reduction organization and the only county-approved syringe exchange program in Southwestern Pennsylvania.

Harm Reduction Coalition

Find Harm Reduction Coalition is a national advocacy and capacity-building organization that works to promote the health and dignity of individuals and communities who are impacted by drug use.

Chicago Recovery Alliance

The Chicago Recovery Alliance offers harm reduction guidelines, information on safer injection, and overdose prevention resources.

North Carolina Harm Reduction Coalition

NCHRC is dedicated to the implementation of harm reduction interventions, public health strategies, drug policy transformation, and justice reform in North Carolina and throughout the American South.

NY Harm Reduction Educators

NY Harm Reduction Educators offers syringe exchange, overdose prevention resources, and supportive counseling and family stabilization, outreach/education, and HIV & HEP C testing.

Drug Policy Alliance

Join the Drug Policy Alliance in their efforts to advance those policies and attitudes that best reduce the harms of both drug use and drug prohibition, and to promote the sovereignty of individuals over their minds and bodies.

American Association for the Treatment of Opioid Dependence (AATOD)

AATOD's mission is to enhance the quality of patient care in treatment programs by promoting the growth and development of comprehensive opioid treatment services throughout the United States.