Posted: Monday, January 29, 2018

Last Friday, United States Surgeon General Jerome Adams, ME, MPH, visited Anchor Community Recovery Center to participate in a discussion about Rhode Island’s response to the addiction epidemic. Adams visited Rhode Island as a guest of U.S. Senator Sheldon Whitehouse, and attendees included Congressman Jim Langevin, RI Department of Health Director Nicole Alexander-Scott, and other local and state officials.

Appointed to the post last year, Adams highlighted the innovative work being done in Rhode Island, and spoke about wanting to spread Anchor’s message of recovery nationwide. “I want to lift up the great work that’s being done here,” said Adams. “And I’d like to hear from you: “What’s working that we need to help the rest of the country understand, and find better ways to fund and scale up?” Adams also commented on the importance of access to overdose reversal drug Narcan.

Adams also went on to speak of his own experience with addiction; his brother is currently incarcerated for offenses related to years of self-medicating with illegal substances. “I’ve dealt with it as a family member. I’ve had money stolen. I’ve seen my mother cry, and be hospitalized for stress,” said Adams. “Finding ways to attack this epidemic is not only pressing for me, it’s personal.”

Anchor recovery coaches Jonathan Goyer and Abigail Stenberg shared their stories of recovery and lessons learned from their outreach work at Anchor. The Providence Center’s clinician Heather Seger and Officer Matthew Beltrami described their work in West Warwick Police Department, part of the “WWPD Drug Overdose Prevention Pilot Program,” which places clinicians in local police departments with the aim of diverting people away from the criminal justice system and into the proper services.