Cleveland Clinic Akron General on July 1 received a $1 million grant from the Summit County (Ohio) Opiate Abatement Advisory Council to use for follow-up care for patients whose substance use disorder was recorded as a primary or secondary health issue in any of the hospital's four emergency departments in the county.
The grant will support Cleveland Clinic Akron General's "Recover in Reach" program for one year. Its funding comes from a settlement of a federal opioids lawsuit.
The hospital will match emergency department patients who need help with addiction with an onsite peer recovery coach, who will ensure they get appropriate long-term care.
"Our emergency departments often serve as the front door for patients in need of help dealing with addiction issues, and this grant will allow us to improve our response to the continued drug epidemic by changing the trajectory of patients in our community with substance use disorder," Steven Brooks, MD, chair of emergency medicine at Cleveland Clinic Akron General, said in a news release.
The program will be directed by emergency medicine physician Erin Simon, DO, and psychologist Dan Jones, PhD.