CleanSlate Blog

Individuals managing a substance or alcohol addiction face challenges every day when it comes to maintaining their recovery. Many of the principles of recovery depend on physical interactions with mentors, health care providers, friends, support groups and other networks. As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to limit physical interactions in many places across the country, people struggling with addiction should seek alternatives to help maintain their recovery

Addiction and isolation can be a dangerous combination.

Last year Ohio witnessed the first decline in drug-related fatalities since 2009. Fatal drug overdoses decreased more than 22% across the state. Unfortunately, Franklin County did not experience the same decline. The county totaled 476 drug deaths in 2018 – the largest death toll in the state and a 10% increase from the year prior. Deadly surges continue to occur:

Addiction is affecting people across the country. Rural areas in particular are struggling with the increase of substance use disorder cases because access to treatment options is typically scarce.

Cape Cod residents now have expanded addiction treatment options. CleanSlate recently acquired three new centers in Hyannis, Falmouth and Wareham, Massachusetts, from Hyannis Family Medical Care, which will continue providing primary care services in Mashpee as Mashpee Family Medicine. The centers recently reopened under the CleanSlate name and retain some of the staff previously employed by Hyannis Family Medical Care. This brings the total number of CleanSlate locations in Massachusetts to 18, impacting close to 6,000 lives monthly.

In 2017, Philadelphia had the highest overall fatal overdose rate in Pennsylvania. In 2018, they had the second-highest rate. But the statistics aren’t all negative: last year Philadelphia County was among 41 counties that experienced a decrease in overdoses. The decrease was small but positive. Twenty-three counties reported increases in deaths and three remained the same.

Ohio’s leading cause of injury-related death is accidental drug overdose. The state has experienced a nearly 800% increase in drug fatalities since 2000, driven by heroin and fentanyl abuse.

The opioid epidemic continues to plague cities across the country. In Virginia, an average of three residents die daily from opioid overdoses. The state continues to outpace the national average for drug overdose deaths involving opioids, with numbers increasing nearly tenfold from 2012 to 2017.

In 2000, Ohio reported 411 fatal, unintentional drug overdoses. By 2017, that number grew to 4,854 deaths: a 1,081% increase.

Massachusetts has the seventh-highest rate of opioid-related overdoses in the United States. The Massachusetts Department of Health recently reported the deadly synthetic opioid fentanyl was found in nine out of every 10 opioid-related deaths in 2018. Additionally, 4.6% of all state residents over the age of 11—about 275,000 people— had an opioid use disorder in 2015, according to research published in the American Journal of Public Health.

Community Health Programs, a Federally Qualified Health Center that receives funds from the Health Resources and Services Administration Health Center Program, recently approached CleanSlate about opening a center in Berkshire County to help combat these harrowing statistics.