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New Hampshire’s recovery infrastructure is now dealing with two crises: the state’s addiction epidemic and the COVID-19 global pandemic.
“Customers are still coming through the door,” said Nancy Rollins, the chief operating officer with Easterseals New Hampshire. “People still need detox, people still need treatment.”
Easterseals is the parent organization for the Farnum Center, a network of treatment and recovery facilities helping people with substance use disorders through inpatient and outpatient care. Easterseals also runs programs for children and adults, including group homes. The COVID-19 crisis has changed how Farnum and Easterseals operate.
“It’s been so new to everyone,” Rollins said. “We continue to work to stay ahead of things to make sure staff are well versed in policies and procedures.”
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Henry Och, chief of operations for Harbor Homes, which runs the recovery center Keystone Hall in Nashua, said COVID-19 has changed how recovery services are delivered.
“I would say in general we have had to make quite a few changes,” Och said. “A lot of it has turned upside down.”
Both Rollins and Och said that intake of new clients has had to be altered to keep everyone safe. At Keystone, Och said everyone wears a facemask during intake and social distance is kept as much as possible.
Rollins said inpatient facilities are cleaned and disinfected, and staff is trained on the use of personal protective equipment. Getting those protective makes and other items has been a challenge, Rollins said. While she has been able to get equipment through the state, Easterseals also reached out to volunteers to help sew masks.
“We’ve all been struggling with acquiring the appropriate equipment,” Rollins said. “We’re trying to do the best we can to make sure the staff is safe.”
This week, the Easterseals residential Zachary Road children’s facility in Manchester came off total isolation after 36 staff and children tested positive for COVID-19, Rollins said. During the lockdown, staff going in and out of the facility was limited to keep the infection from spreading. The home has about 74 child and teen residents, and normally has 300 staff members.
“It was a bit of a struggle balancing kids’ needs with staff coming in,” Rollins said.
Revenue can be challenging most of the time, but when the pandemic hit changes had to be made so that recovery centers could still get paid. Rollins said Easterseals has had to furlough staff and close its adult day program. Insurance changes that opened up payment for telehealth services have made an impact, Och said. Recovery that starts at an inpatient facility continues through outpatient services, and during the pandemic that means appointments online.
“A good portion of our services will be via telehealth,” Och said.
Meg Shea, the vice president of clinical and supportive services at Manchester-based Families in Transition, is also seeing a lot of the outpatient treatment move to telehealth. The problem Shea has found is that many clients do not have access to the internet or own an internet-enabled device.
“We had to really start looking at some of the barriers that come with telehealth,” Shea said.
Families in Transition was able to set up a room where clients can enter and use a tablet connected to the internet. The organization has worked through insurance companies to get some clients cell phones and tablets that can connect to the internet to facilitate telehealth appointments.
Och thinks the use of telehealth for recovery will continue after the pandemic lets up, but there will always be a need for face-to-face treatment.
“We can’t ramp down to a full telehealth model,” Och said. “There still needs the human touch to be part of the solution for addiction treatment.”
Shea agreed, saying that while telehealth can break down barriers to help, in-person treatment and services are still key for recovery from substance use disorders.
“Telehealth breaks down a lot of barriers, but it shouldn’t be the only option.”
These articles are being shared by partners in The Granite State News Collaborative. For more information visit collaborativenh.org.
