SaVida Health is currently accepting new patients and take most insurances. Most patients can be seen within one to two business days. SaVida Health is committed to pursuing the most effective forms of evidence-based treatment — and empowering patients to lead healthier, more stable lives. SaVida Health meets each patient where they are at in their individual journey, providing compassionate, personalized treatment to help eliminate as many obstacles to success as possible. Through a unique collaboration of medical treatment, counseling, and case management, SaVida Health is equipped to help patients on their road to recovery.
“As a native Vermonter,” said Sharon R. Shepard, vice president and general manager of SaVida, “I couldn’t be more pleased to bring our program to Springfield. This is a wonderful community and we very much look forward to working in partnership with the many local organizations to help improve the lives of people struggling with addiction through compassionate, respectful, and effective treatment.”
The staff at SaVida Health have many years of experience in assisting people who struggle with addiction and dependency and includes board-certified addiction physicians, as well as licensed nurses, medical assistants and counselors. Our licensed facility is equipped to evaluate and treat most addictions with a variety of methods, including Buprenorphine (Suboxone/Sublocade), Naltrexone (Vivitrol).
“As a board-certified Public Health and Preventive Medicine specialist,” said Diana Berger, MD, MSc, lead physician at the 368 River Street, Springfield office, “I am excited to take care of the people and community of Springfield, Vermont and surrounding towns struggling with the effects of opioid and alcohol use disorders. SaVida Health’s compassionate, non-judgmental, patient-centered model of care of 'meeting our patients where they are at' is what inspired me to join the SaVida Health’s team.”
www.savidahealthva.com
Oh, great. Another junkie magnet. Sorry, folks, I know most of you think that these places are an effective solution, but the long-term success rate is only about 10%. Without "new" addicts to "treat," these centers would go out of business quickly. They have a vested financial interest in perpetuating addiction. All this place will do is attract addicts, run them through their program, and then dump them on the streets. The addicts will almost immediately relapse, and then get "treated" again. It's a revolving door that never stops spinning. I used to work at the #5 ranked treatment center in America, and I saw it every day. Springfield will become a garbage can for junkies, just like this state wants it to be.
ReplyDeleteThis facility has not gone through the Development Review Board as a Conditional Use - which is required. I'll follow up on this.
ReplyDeleteOMG, I just re-read the article. Don't tell me this place is doing "outpatient treatment" with Buprenorphine! (It used to be Methadone back in the day, I had to look it up.) Well, Springfield, take a look at your new dope dealer! NOBODY EVER GOT CLEAN WITH METHADONE! They won't do it with this drug, either. They'll just go to SaVida for their daily fix. All you are doing is switching addictions. It will be a disaster.
ReplyDeleteAnonymous 10:34, what solution to the problem of addiction and drug abuse do you recommend?
ReplyDeletePrevention, prevention, prevention. Once hooked, the overwhelming majority of addicts die in their addiction. I hate to say it, but you can write off most of the current users. They're done. Keeping people from starting is the only way to combat the opioid crisis. Treatment centers, in my professional opinion, just use addicts for cash cows. 28 days of high-carb food and a Big Book, and off they go to fall flat on their faces. I've been clean and sober for 27 years, so I also speak from personal experience. For me, I had to get so sick of the way I was living, that I would literally have rather been dead than continue to use, and would have endured any amount of suffering to stay clean. Even if it killed me. I was lucky, most addicts die before they get to that point. It is a gut-wrenching, heart-breaking, mind-maddening tragedy, and it will not stop until every addict is either clean, or dead.
Delete^ Lot of wisdom here.
DeleteHow about enforcing the law and locking some of them up? No second, third or forth chances. Lock them up until they are sober and have undergone a treatment plan. Then, and only then release them with conditions that they must have a urinalysis weekly, go to therapy weekly and do community service to pay back their time.
DeleteIf they are caught again using or dont comply its a manditory 6 months in jail and follow the same plan. 3rd strike is 5 years.
Forcing addicts into treatment will only cause them to go into "compliance," meaning they will do and say what is necessary to get through the program. They will not internalize any of it, and most will immediately relapse. There is a treatment model out there that was created by criminal psychologists, and has a certain level of success. The treatment center I worked at used this model to treat criminals, as a condition of their parole. It was voluntary, and had a 20% long-term success rate. It was 90 days in-patient, at a cost of $4,000 per patient, per day. (It was originally nine months long, and I was told it had a 60% success rate then.) No insurance would cover it; we were funded through the DOC. It was more than the taxpayers were willing to stomach. It no longer exists.
DeleteAnonymous 3:48, how would the prevention be done? Counsel or treat everyone that isn't using drugs yet? I'm not trying to be sarcastic, as routine, regular, required mental health screening and treating for everyone would probably improve a lot of things. If society could / would afford it.
DeleteTim, the numbers on that would be huge (they're already huge.) More prisons etc., more expense. But there may be no inexpensive solution. Except the one Chuck Gregory argues for.
When I was a kid, there were public service TV spots, (not the stupid egg one) major recording artists wrote songs, (Freddie's Dead by Curtis Mayfield, Slippin' Into Darkness by War, etc.) Grand Funk Railroad did anti-drug commercials. There were posters in schools that graphically displayed the effects of heavy drug use. There was a noticeable, concerted effort to convince young people that drugs, especially narcotics, were bad, at least where I grew up. It worked, for the most part. While many of us smoked pot, and some of us did coke later in life, we stayed FAR AWAY from pills and heroin. IV drug users were considered absolute scum. I don't know what made this generation think that opioids were safe, and non-addictive. I guess nobody told them otherwise. My generation may have done a lot of stupid things, but most of us knew better than to mess with opioids. Where is that now? The only commercials I see are for drug treatment centers, and it's too late by then!
DeleteThe echo chambers that the State and Feds have set up take in input from the various agencies whose reason for existence is working with addicts, from addicts themselves, and from families of addicts. The focus is almost exclusively on the addicts and their problems. Out of these groups come our policies. I have been arguing for years that we need more input from the neighborhoods which are being destroyed by the epidemic and the homeowners whose house values have been destroyed because of the increased percentage of addicts in the Town and neighborhoods and possibly from the real estate agents. I believe if we started to get this input, then we would start to get some sensible cost effective and successful programs implemented. But this does not seem to be a view which either the Republicans or the Democrats are willing to listen to. The Committee which Gov. Scott set up is basically a joke which has not come up with any new workable ideas. When that happens, most people would tend to say that we need ideas from a different source, but that does not appear to be happening.
ReplyDeleteThe problem with that idea is that most of the neighborhood locals neither know, nor truly care about the problem. Most just want the addicts out of their neighborhoods. If you want to know the truth about addiction, ask a former addict, one with years in recovery. You'd be surprised by some of the answers you get. For instance, the "addiction as a disease" concept is seriously flawed; it was created by the AMA to force insurance companies to pay for treatment. Drug addiction is just a symptom, most addicts are actually self-medicating. The "disease" concept allows alcoholics and addicts to "blame the disease" instead of taking responsibility for themselves, which any recovering addict will tell you is the foundation of recovery. If you want to perpetuate the problem, open more treatment centers. If you want to stop it, we as a society must make drug use so distasteful, so socially unacceptable, so frightening, that few will ever consider it.
Delete12:48 in meetings with the Neighborhood Associations, I would have to disagree with you. They definitely know what it is doing to their neighborhoods, and they definitely care about what it is doing to their neighborhoods. Just dismissing them as NIMBYs tends to discount the reality of much of their complaints and tends to ignore that the market economy tends to concentrate the addict housing in less affluent neighborhoods of less affluent towns, and then it spreads from there. These people are victims as well and they need to be listened to.
DeleteOh, I understand where they're coming from. I had a dope dealer living next door to me a few years ago, and it was rough. Fortunately, the landlord wanted them gone more than I did, and he was able to get rid of them. That's where the problem really is, crooked landlords. The way you put it; "they know what's going on in their neighborhoods, etc." is the textbook definition of NIMBY, George. I'm not saying I disagree with it, necessarily, but let's call it what it is. There's a difference between cleaning up a neighborhood, and stopping drug addiction. Kicking drug addicts out of your neighborhood will improve your neighborhood, but that's all it does. Dealing with drug addiction is a separate issue. My gripe is with those who profit from the drug induced destruction; dope dealers, crooked landlords, crooked treatment centers and halfway houses. To say nothing of the crooked (or foolish) politicians that allow it to happen!
DeleteYes, there is a NIMBY aspect to it. But you need to understand that the market determines the location where those renting to the using addicts open their doors. Basically, they buy cheap houses in less affluent neighborhoods in less affluent towns, and this eventually concentrates their presence in those neighborhoods. If those neighbors do not have a seat at the table, then no one discusses the impact that occurs on the neighborhood or the grand list of the town. If no one discusses that, then no concepts are considered which will reduce or countervail that impact. While it is compassionate and altruistic to focus on curing and rehabilitating the drug user, it is also compassionate to consider the young couples and elders who are seeing the biggest investment of their life and in many cases their life savings shrink to nothing, while their quality of life in the neighborhood spirals downwards. That is all I am saying.
DeleteI absolutely agree. Something must be done to stop the deterioration of this town. My original point, which may have gotten lost somewhere, is that one more "treatment center" isn't going to solve problem. Rather, it will only make things here worse, while doing little, if anything, to solve the opioid crisis. What I was trying to say was that neighborhood associations care primarily about the quality of life in their neighborhoods; they're not particularly concerned with solving the opioid crisis, since it's not their job. There's nothing wrong with that, and I agree with them.
DeleteA good start would be to eliminate the so called half way houses we have in town, as they are not half way house, there is no supervision, and drugs are still being used in them, and sold out of them.
Delete12:07 I think that discussion of preserving the quality of life in the neighborhoods is important. HUD has finally realized under the fair housing laws that the concentration of group homes for substance abuse disabled individuals in a neighborhood defeats the whole therapeutic point of having them live in a "normal" neighborhood. HUD refers to it as "institutionalizing" a neighborhood. So having the affected neighborhood representatives having a voice in the policy setting, I believe would cause these echo chambers to start thinking about what the real effect is of what their policies propose. Right now what we have are using addicts coming out of two-week Medicaid paid for rehabilitation and they are being placed in ad hoc housing in the neighborhoods and the neighbors are being called upon to serve basically as monitors, counselors, etc. It isn't working and it is causing an enormous drain on community resources besides destroying property values in the neighborhoods -- unless the neighborhoods of course get organized and start pushing back and launch campaigns to clean up the neighborhoods.
DeleteHUD has abandoned the concentrated, high-rise, "ghetto" approach to low income, subsidized housing. What they are pushing now is privately owned "scattered site" housing, which means putting low income individuals in otherwise economically healthy neighborhoods. In other words, the run-down house down the street with the drug addicts living in it. This is one area where local ordinances and neighborhood associations can make a difference. Target the landlords, and the problem goes away. The problem with this new "treatment" facility is that it is similar to the old Methadone programs I've seen. Their "patients" will all be wandering around high, but they'll be on LEGAL drugs. They will be just as problematic as any heroin addict, but the police can't arrest them, unless they're driving. Talk about a zombie apocalypse!
DeleteGeorge the neighborhoods did push back on "Will's Homes" and they watched for a small amount of time and had a few meetings regarding these homes, now what crickets, to me it sounds like he won and beat the town, because nothing has changed.
DeleteI've learned that this facility is NOT required to get town approval through zoning and the Development Review board - because the location was a medical facility before so it is not a change of
ReplyDeleteuse. Sorry to have given out incorrect information about the town regulating it through zoning.
It is known that about 80% of alcoholics are "functioning alcoholics," that is, they perform responsibly at work, etc. Is is possible that 80% of opioid addicts are "functioning" as well, and our tax dollars are mostly being used to fund law enforcement in ways we don't need to use them?
ReplyDeleteAn addiction recovery clinic is a useful asset, but not when the client returns to a community where the only check on his/her recidivism is the likelihood of getting caught by a cop. It takes the concern of family and friends to help keep them on the straight and narrow-- and that's the rub.
A lot of those closest to the addict are so stressed out themselves that they can't afford the luxury of riding herd on the problem of someone they care about. They can't afford to lose their focus on staying alive themselves. Life is a walk on a high wire-- Forty percent of all Americans don't even have $400 available to cover an emergency. You think they're going to find the time to help an addicted relative?
So, maybe we have to dig deeper to address the real problem.
I've know a few of those "functional alcoholics/addicts" that you describe, Chuck. They don't function very well, and require inordinate amounts of assistance at that. A former boss of mine was in a Methadone program, and had been for many years. He spent the better part of every morning nodding out; he didn't become "functional" until just before noon. I asked him why he hadn't weaned off, and he said "Why should I, it's free." I can't even count the number of alcoholics I've known and worked with. You're not functional when someone has to go behind you and fix everything you did. There's no such thing as a functioning alcoholic/addict. You're just looking for a rationalization for legalizing drugs, Chuck. Next time you're riding your bike, remember; that person driving behind you might be a "functional alcoholic/addict." Do you still feel safe?
DeleteI don't believe in functional alcoholics or functional addicts. Chronic use entails deep emotional and physical costs to users and their families, and indirect societal costs as well, whether or not they continue to work productively or avoid institutionalization. There are always far better choices. There's no rational justification for addiction or any recreational use involving any mind or mood altering chemical. Sufferers of chronic pain have justified uses for prescribed medication, but it's only one facet of pain management.
DeleteThe American Culture produces over 100,000 dead a year from drugs and suicide yet we cling to the goofy culture that produces deadly results and defend it because we believe our k-12 Rat-Race American Culture is The Greatest.
ReplyDeleteAmerica lost over 1 million in Wars, it took over 200 years and some really big wars and here in the 21st Century we lost over 1 million to drugs & suicide and still cling to the goofy 1950's TV Sitcom Culture.
George Carlin said they call it the American Dream because you have to be asleep to believe it.
Hmmm, you sound like one of Chuck's "functional addicts," 11:45. By that, I mean you sound stoned and stupid. Having grown up in the 60's and 70's, I'd say the culture that produced George Carlin is responsible for most of the troubles we face. I think most people would prefer that "goofy" 50's TV culture to the drug induced nightmare of today. A nice home in the suburbs and a good job beats dying in an alley......
DeleteThe people who are dying from the slow suicide of addiction and the usual faster methods are mostly over-50 whites these days. It's not the poor and especially the poor non-white who are bumping the numbers up. It's us, the ones who grew up believing in the American Dream and found out it's been co-opted by the top 5%. Might as well keep living on wages that have been flat for forty years, keep a step ahead of the credit bureau and get a buzz any way I can to avoid having to keep pretending I'm just a temporarily embarrassed millionaire....
ReplyDeleteOr you can invest in yourself with ACCREDITED, LEGITIMATE (not Howard Deen Ctr) advanced, technical training. The fields of auto technology, HVAC, manufacturing, medical analytics, journeyman machinist and journeyman electrical are begging for skilled help. Wage wise, $30+/hr is becoming the norm. Of course you need to have positive references and lots of ambition. Traits few embittered liberals ever valued.
DeleteChuck, there is no problem in life that alcohol and drugs will not make worse. Most addicts spend enough on booze and drugs every month to pay a mortgage, and then some. I quit booze, drugs, and smoking, and within 5 years was living in a nice house, and driving a Corvette. All while making only 10.45/hr. The American Dream may be on life support, but it's not completely dead; you just have to be smart, talented, and above all, SOBER! 7:38, I'm certified in more than one of the fields you mentioned, and I NEVER saw wages that high unless you were in the Union. What you're more likely to encounter is about $12-15 per hour, and a wingnut boss who views your paycheck as a gift. It takes years to become a journeyman in any field, and for that you need an apprenticeship with a company. Good luck with that. You don't know squat; I'll bet you just saw a couple of ads in the paper, and made the rest up!
ReplyDeleteI am a local trade business owner, the trades are paying more than 15 an hour maybe its the companies you've been working for and I worked at J&L which some of the people working there under the union, would not be working for me
DeleteYou would lose that bet.
DeleteSimple search for mechanic wages,
https://money.usnews.com/careers/best-jobs/auto-mechanic/salary
Diagnostic technicians earn a fair amount more, especial imports. I would know. Try to hire a good plumber. If you settled for $10/hr. that's what you're worth.
So, you looked in a magazine? Come on, how about some REAL jobs. Fresh out of school, you'll only make half what a journeyman makes. And that I KNOW. $10.45 was entry-level for an EDM machinist, 25 years ago, in another state. Top pay was $20/hr. Getting $15/hr to start is probably no big deal these days, especially here. Diagnostic technician? You mean the guy who plugs the computer into the car and reads the display? Then throws parts at it until something happens? Lucky for you most people don't know anything about cars! If people knew how little you were worth, $10/hr would be all you get, and you'd have to sweep the shop floor to get that!
Delete@8:18, with your attitude lucky to get any job.
DeleteIf you noted, serious training is required to enjoy such wages.
What have you sacrificed to invest in yourself?
Well, 8:28, I'm smart and educated enough to know I don't owe you an explanation. If changing the topic on internet blogs ever becomes a job, I'm sure you'll be in demand. I'd ask for your credentials, but lying is probably the other thing you're good at.
Deletefor those who want to know about the livable wage situation in Vermont, check out this: http://livingwage.mit.edu/states/50. It's not pretty.
ReplyDeleteChuck, have you ever heard the expression, "the world doesn't owe you a living?"
DeleteWe're all in this together, 1:34. If you want your life to get unpleasant in a hurry, start insulting your trash hauler, your waitress, your kids' teachers, the road repair crew, the convenience store clerks, the crossing guard, the checkout clerk, your day care provider, the sales clerk, the DMV clerk, the church secretary and everybody else who just manages to get by in Vermont....
DeleteNo chuck, we're not all in this together. No one has my back, nor do I expect them to. What you speak of is entitlement. We are blessed to live in a very wealthy country where every man still has the freedom to excel to his full potential. Dropping out of school, breeding a illegitimate spawn, neglecting to learn a trade, hold a job or accumulate savings while squandering every cent on cable TV, cell phones, tattoos, pizza, cigarettes, Bud Light, lottery tickets, and NASCAR fan wear has its back lash. Hard work and sacrifice has its rewards. Millions and millions world wide want to be here to participate in that system. Can't be that bad, right?
DeleteNice move, waiting for the topic to go off the front page to avoid criticism, but I gotcha! (LOL) 4:26, the person you describe perfectly fits every Trump-supporting redneck I've ever seen. The Dominionist Evangelical wing of Trumpworld actually DOES think the world owes them a living, or rather, that they OWN the entire world. To Chuck; the attitudes expressed by some store clerks, and other blue-collar workers toward those of us who retired without looking ancient, is one of utter contempt. I've had fast-food workers tamper with my food! They may be getting screwed, but I didn't do it to them. The sad part is that it's hard to tell if they're "Trumpies" or "Bernies." But that's class warfare for you; anyone with more money than you automatically becomes the enemy, regardless of party!
Delete@6:06, you neglected to remind us how smart and educated you are.
DeleteAh, there's that trash populism. As usual, 6:16, you reinforce my point beautifully!
Delete6:16 The only place Anonymous Anonymous has any education is in his own mind, and don't worry he has told us how smart he is many time, we all know, "Mom Where's my Meatloaf? Mom? His favorite thing to say, when not on this blog spouting off. Imagine if he treats others the way he does people he does not agree with on here, probably was never in the work force to have a clue, if he was his time card said Anonymous I'm sure, maybe "basement dweller".
DeleteNo, you don't know me, Roger, but I do know you. You're the jerk who used to flip me off when I smiled and waved to you as you drove by my house. The one that I paid cash for. Typical, blue-collar, white trash, a$$hole. There are way too many people like you in this town, and it will never improve as long as you're here.
DeleteI CONFESS!!!....Im one of the ones that tampered with 6:06's food orders......but we used to do that to all the douche bags.
DeleteWell Anonymous Anonymous, maybe you should then look in the mirror, probably a reason everyone in Springfield drives by and flips you off, I never did, but probably a reason that everyone else does. You probably don't have a smile, but do your best waiting for your welfare check to arrive!
Delete6:37 From what I've read this Anonymous Anyonoumous 3:01 just needs a friend, probably a reason he has none, and people flip him off and spit in his food, maybe some self reflection might do him some good.
Delete1:34, I've always wondered why you're the only person in town filling in the potholes personally on the streets you drive on. I never imagined it was because you didn't have anybody watching your back. 6:06, if any person in retail sales treats you with contempt, it's not because you look like you're too young to be retired. I would discuss this with your priest.
ReplyDeleteOh, come on, Chuck. You're the biggest purveyor of working-class resentment on this blog. It's the air you breathe, and probably the only thing keeping you alive. I used to have the same attitude. Then I got sober, educated, and busted my butt to get somewhere. This is what the "crabs in a basket" analogy looks like. You rise up through the ranks, and they turn on you!
Delete