Reducing the stigma associated with opiate addiction is critical to the willingness of a person to access treatment.
Emilie van Eeghen, the vice president for behavioral health at MaineGeneral Medical Center in Augusta, shared that message with more than 100 people during the United Way of Kennebec Valley’s annual breakfast Thursday morning. Van Eeghen said recovery is possible and resources are available to those in need.
“Stigma contributes toward the difficulty (an addicted person) has in engaging in recovery,” van Eeghen said. “We can change how we respond to stigma and be alive to the hope of recovery and the possibilities of our strong community.”
Van Eeghen spoke for almost 20 minutes about the opioid crisis in Maine and said when she started at MaineGeneral 30 years ago, she was primarily concerned about alcohol addiction. It wasn’t until about 10-15 years ago that she started to see an increase in opioid dependency, and now, it’s an epidemic.
[For more of this story, written by Jason Pafundi, go to http://www.centralmaine.com/20...one-can-be-addicted/]
Comments (0)