Agencies offer hope for those struggling with addiction during COVID-19 pandemic

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    Albany, Georgia (Albany Herald) — Disruptive events such as a natural disaster or loss of a job can affect individuals, as well as their families, even when the circumstances are short in duration.

In the midst of a global pandemic that has disrupted the lives of nearly everyone in myriad ways — from being shut off from loved ones to long periods spent in isolation — and has lasted for a year the impact has been massive.

For many, the stress and depression brought about by this unprecedented event has led to them turning to the use of substances, from the legal such as alcohol to street drugs such as methamphetamine and in particular opioids.

Students, faculty and staff at Albany State University gathered on Thursday, February 25, 2021 for a retirement celebration for Dr. Stephanie R. Harris-Jolly, director of Counseling and Student Accessibility Services. Click for more.

During the period of May 2019 to May 2020 the number of opioid overdose deaths were the greatest in the nation for any 12-month period, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported in December. While the number of deaths was climbing prior to the emergence of COVID-19, it seems to have accelerated during the pandemic.

In June 2020, a survey revealed that 13.3 percent of U.S. adults had either started or increased use of substances to deal with stress or emotions related to COVID-19.

That trend has been seen locally as well, said Sandra Dailey, coordinator of the Medically Assisted Treatment/Recovery is Everything (MATT/RISE) program.

MATT/RISE operates under Aspire Behavioral Health & Developmental Disability Services in Albany.

“As far as the RISE program is concerned and what I’ve seen and heard talking with other agencies, the answer is yes,” Dailey said of increased substance use. “I was talking with a state health official; she said there has been a tremendous increase in drug overdoses in the state as well.”

In 2020, Dougherty County Emergency Medical Services responded to 263 suspected opioid overdose cases, several of which were fatal.

The service has noticed a sharp increase in overdose cases, many involving fentanyl, EMS Director Sam Harrell said. During one 12-hour shift in December paramedics responded to four overdose calls, more cases than the service once handled over an entire month.

Through a grant last year from the Morehouse School of Medicine, secured through the Phoebe Putney Health System’s Network of Trust, Dougherty EMS was able to purchase naloxone — also known by the brand Narcan — to help revive patients who have overdosed on an opioid.

Paramedics carry the nasal spray in their bags and can administer it much more quickly than when they had to return to the ambulance to get intravenous doses for patients.

In those situations time is critical for patients, Allen said.

“They literally stop breathing,” he said. “In four to six minutes you start losing brain cells if you’re not breathing. In four to six minutes you’re dying.”

The pandemic’s role in turning individuals to seek relief in substance use is obvious, Dailey said.

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