RHINELANDER, Wis. (WXPR) — Northwoods professionals are noticing an increasing number of people with prescription medication and heroin addictions. A new resource for people seeking help has arrived.
12 organizations in north central Wisconsin have formed what is called the Hope Consortium, designed to help battle the growing opioid addiction problem in this region. The consortium has a new website and toll-free hotline for people to use for resources.
Sheila Weix is Director of Substance Abuse Services For Family Health Center of Marshfield Clinic. She says decades ago, opioid dependence was rare here, but that has changed. She says they get calls daily from people needing help. The pill supply is drying up, so Weix says people are using other substances. “When they can’t get the pills, then heroin shows up and it’s something they can access without going to a doctor. They’re going to a drug dealer…not good…but we have that going on. Then when you look nationally, there are things like fentanyl entering the stream and it’s much stronger than heroin.”
Weix says on the website you can find the location and contact information for any of the providers within a given area. She says there are a number of educational resources and links to the national treatment locator.
The website is hope consortium.org or toll-free 844-305-4673-(HOPE).
by Ken Krall, WXPR
