APRIL 2019 • LONGISLANDPRESS.COM 37
MOBILE RECOVERY UNIT
REMOVING TREATMENT BARRIERS THE
Supporters checked out the new Mobile Recovery Unit at its unveiling. (Photo by Ed Shin)
BY ALAN KRAWITZ
Nassau County has a new weapon in
the war on opioids
In the ongoing fight against opioid
addiction on Long Island, many
addiction experts say that barriers
to effective treatment, such as lack
of transportation, money, or health
insurance, can be as daunting as the
drugs themselves. But Nassau residents
now have a new alternative for
treatment thanks to Hicksville-based
CN Guidance & Counseling Services,
which recently introduced a new
mobile recovery unit that will offer
treatment services for heroin and
opiate addiction to individuals
throughout the county.
“Many people are not able to travel
to receive the help that they need for
addiction,” Arlene González-Sánchez,
commissioner of the New York State
Office of Alcoholism and Substance
Abuse Services, said at a recent press
conference introducing the new mobile
recovery unit.
The unit, funded by a state grant, aims
to bring treatment directly to addicts,
and will utilize a registered nurse,
a case worker, and two clinicians
equipped with telepsychiatry
equipment to connect patients with
doctors at CN Guidance & Counseling
Services’ headquarters.
Officials at CN (Central Nassau)
Guidance said the mobile team will
provide real-time interaction and an
appropriate level of pre-engagement,
engagement, and treatment in a private
environment.
“Aggressively training community
members to administer Narcan and
mounting a large-scale prevention/
treatment campaign have helped
curb the number of overdoses we
have seen in 2018,” said Jeffrey
Friedman, CEO of CN Guidance &
Counseling Services.
He added that “every day our phones
are ringing off the hook from individuals
and families seeking treatment.”
Friedman said that in the last two
years alone, more than 1,000 Long
Islanders have died from the opioid
crisis, and demand for the organization’s
services has increased to 7,000
residents, from 2,000 only five years
ago.
According to the November 9, 2018
meeting minutes of the Suffolk
County Legislature's Heroin and
Opiate Epidemic Advisory Panel, top
communities for overdoses have remained
constant and include Coram,
Shirley, West Babylon, Centereach,
and Medford.
In Nassau County, CN Guidance
named Massapequa, Levittown, East
OPIOID
CRISIS
Meadow and Oceanside as opiate hot
spots.
CN Counseling client Thomas Ingenito,
23, of East Meadow, said he used
various drugs including crack, heroin
and Zanax before finally getting
clean following a short jail term in the
Nassau County Correctional Center.
"Too often, addicts are disregarded,”
he said, at the debut of the mobile
recovery unit. “This will help lots
of people get treatment," he added,
explaining that many people lack
transportation or don’t have insurance
to cover proper treatment.
The mobile unit will provide treatment
regardless of an individual’s
ability to pay.
“A mobile recovery unit would be a
powerful tool to help increase access
and reduce barriers to care,” says Dr.
David Neubert, an emergency department
physician at NYU Winthrop
Hospital in Mineola who has led free
Narcan training and also oversees
opioid overdose prevention programs
for the Town of Hempstead.
“While our emergency department is
always available to provide emergent
care for those affected by opioid-related
illnesses, mobile units will provide
an important link to longer-term access
to care and improved addiction
recovery services.”
Dr. Sal Raichbach, a psychologist with
Ambrosia Treatment Centers in West
Palm Beach, Florida says that mobile
recovery units are a great community
resource.
“Often, people come to treatment
because they are given an ultimatum
by their loved ones or their
jobs, or they are forced in through
the court system,” he says. “But
many people don’t have family and
friends to encourage them to seek
recovery, and as a result, never
make it into treatment. A mobile
unit bypasses a lot of the red tape
and allows people direct access to
support, counseling and transportation
to treatment.”
PRESS HEALTH
"A mobile unit bypasses a lot of the red tape
and allows people direct access to support,
counseling, and transportation to treatment,”
says Dr. Sal Raichbach.
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