Wicomico’s Pilot Health Program Called ‘Promising Practice’

Wicomico’s Pilot Health Program Called ‘Promising Practice’
Wicomicos

SALISBURY – Officials from various government entities met last month to recognize a program’s successful efforts to reduce the number of overdoses and lead individuals to treatment.

Wicomico County’s Community Outreach Addictions Team (COAT) was recently designated as a Promising Practice from the National Association of County and City Health Officials’ National Connection for Local Public Health.

The COAT program is a pilot program run through the Wicomico County Health Department and partners with the Wicomico County Sheriff’s Office, Peninsula Regional Medical Center, the Wicomico County State’s Attorney’s Office and more to help those that are addicted or have overdosed find treatment.

County Executive Bob Culver said Wicomico County Health Officer Lori Brewster and former state’s attorney and current Circuit Court Judge Matt Maciarello approached him last spring with an outline for the COAT program to target the rising number of overdoses in the county.

“At that point in time in Wicomico County’s situation, money wasn’t the object,” Culver said. “It was the life and health of so many young people that we had in Wicomico County that we needed to concentrate on … This has turned out to be such a successful program. It’s what Wicomico County needed at the time, and as it turns out, what the state of Maryland needed at the time.”

Brewster said since launching the program last June, COAT team members have met with 188 individuals, 105 of which have sought treatment. She said the 56 percent of individuals who decided to find treatment far surpass the national average of 20 percent.

“I can’t say enough about the COAT team members and the work that they put in making this such a success,” she said.

State’s Attorney Ella Disharoon said the COAT program is unique in that it charges peer support specialists with experience in addiction to assist people into treatment.

“These people understand the needs of people that overdose better than any of us could,” she said, adding that the team’s impact had helped lower the number of deaths, thefts and prostitution charges related to addiction.

Salisbury Mayor Jake Day said the COAT program has made a noticeable difference in overdose statistics since its launch.

“We are probably looking at a better 2017 than a 2016 as long as we continue this,” he said, adding that many cities such as Annapolis and Dover are seeing the opposite.

In the first six months of 2016 there were 138 overdoses, according to Day, but in the second half of 2016 that number decreased to 73. In the first quarter of 2017 there were 27 overdoses.

“We are proud to stand alongside of you and play our role,” he said.

Culver applauded the success of the COAT program and the help of local partners in their efforts to combat the opioid and heroin epidemic.

“We haven’t cured everything,” he said, “but we are making great headway.”

About The Author: Bethany Hooper

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Bethany Hooper has been with The Dispatch since 2016. She currently covers various general stories. Hooper graduated from Stephen Decatur High School in 2012 and the University of Maryland in 2016, where she completed double majors in journalism and economics.