Innovation and the Opioid Crisis: How Nurses in Rhode Island Are Changing the Face of Addiction through Technology and Compassion

 “And some have compassion and make a difference.” 

 Rhode Island has a long history of being willing to go against the grain in order to get something done. The people are hard working and innovative. 

  Like almost every state in America though, Rhode Island has been hit hard by the opioid epidemic. Years of doctors misprescribing and overprescribing opioids to patients and a lack of follow up created a situation where many people inadvertently became addicted. When the state and local governments started cracking down on the over-prescription of opioids, many people suddenly realized that they were addicted as their prescriptions ran out and could no longer be refilled. This has led many people to seek pills on the black market and many turned to heroin as black market pills were often far more expensive than heroin.  

This situation became worse as drug dealers began purchasing fentanyl and car-fentanyl on the black market and began adding it to heroin, cocaine and even marijuana to make the drugs more powerful. The problem is that fentanyl is cheaply produced in labs in Asia. Dealers often cut their products with it or use it to add a kick to cheap marijuana. Overnight, the entire mindset of drug dealers changed. It wasn’t enough to claim that you sold the best product. You had to sell the product that sent three or four people to the morgue. As sick as that may sound, that’s the mindset that many of these sociopaths adopted. 

 While this the case all over, and Rhode Island is by no means the exception, how they worked to deal with it is. The state has recognized that this epidemic is the result of a lack of mental health awareness and has worked to change the attitude that people have regarding getting treatment. Several organizations have been started to counsel patients on a personal level.  

   In 2017, Timothy Aurelio, a local nurse and former recovery patient, approached me about a new type of model that would combine the counseling of patients by those who have been in recovery themselves with those who, also, have certifications in healthcare and in mental health. 

 Timothy, is a Nurse board certified in Physical and Mental Health Nursing by the American Nurses Association. Having struggled with addiction himself, he has the ability to relate with, empathize, and motivate others to take action and change their lives. 

 We sat down together, created a strategy, built a website, and in May of 2016 he and Rhonda who is, also, a nurse started a non-profit to reach those in Southern Rhode Island. They named it Nurses in Rhode Island because they were two nurses in Rhode Island with a vision to reach those struggling with a combination of advice and evidence based treatment.  

Tim's goal is to change the face of addiction by removing the stigma associated with it. For years, people who were addicted were perceived to be bad people with low levels of self will who failed to "just say no." However, recently science has revealed that addiction is often caused by underlying mental health issues. In his book, Irresistible, Dr. Alter talks about how repeated studies have shown that the ability to become addicted neither makes a person "bad" or "good" but stems from stimulus to areas of the brain. Many people become addicted without knowing it or while believing that their doctor had their best interests in mind. Tim, himself, became addicted after receiving prescription medicine for a sports injury and struggled for many years before breaking free. 

He wanted to show others that freedom is possible if they are willing to seek treatment. After planning out the website and marketing campaign, Tim and Rhonda set up a call center in which patients could phone in to speak to a healthcare professional who would listen to their situation and network them to a treatment facility that had a treatment plan that would work for that person and that would, also, be as affordable for them as possible. 

Nurses and Rhode Island takes a truly innovative approach to dealing with the needs of its patients. In a conversation during the planning stages Tim told me “everyone is unique. Why do we try to fit them all into the same mold of treatment.” 

Through effort and perseverance Nurses in Rhode Island is working to serve the people of Southern Rhode Island in the same way that the Anchor recovery group is helping those in the Northern end of the state. While some organizations may get funding for their non-profits, Nurses in Rhode Island has not sought out any funding for their organization. The founders currently pay all of the expenses out of pocket. All of their employees are volunteers and no one draws a salary or pay for their work.

Nurses in Rhode Island does accept donations but does not solicit them on the website because they don't want patients to feel like they have to pay to use the service. One way that I did come up with to raise money for them is through sales of t-shirts. I used my Amazon merch account to design a t-shirt for them. If you buy a t-shirt they get 100% of the commissions from the sale. 

If you are interested in following Nurses on Rhode Island on Twitter you can follow them @NursesinRI. If you found this article to be informative, please upvote and retweet it on Twitter. 

We are trying to get more people struggling with addiction in  Rhode Island to use Nurses in Rhode Island's free helpline and, also, to encourage people to start organizations in other states across America. 

Together we can change the stigma associated with addiction and get people the treatment they need.