Presbyterian Española Hospital is slated to greatly expand its medication-assisted treatment offerings with a new clinic space, situated in what used to be the hospital’s emergency room.
The clinic is expected to reach at least 1,900 patients — people struggling with addictions to substances ranging from nicotine to alcohol to fentanyl — in its first year, said hospital administrator Brenda Romero.
Romero said the scaled-up treatment services will be a “game-changer” for the Española Valley, which has long struggled with high rates of drug and alcohol abuse. Data from the state Department of Health shows Rio Arriba County had the highest rate of drug overdoses and second-highest rate of alcohol-related deaths in the state from 2017 to 2021, the most recent data available.
“People are telling us every day that we changed their lives, right? We gave them their life back,” said Romero, a lifelong resident of Northern New Mexico originally from Vadito.
“And so if we have more of that ... I think it’s going to be an amazing thing for this community, a big change.”
Read the full article in the Santa Fe New Mexican.
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