GREEN BAY, WI (WTAQ) – A Green Bay hospital continues to feel the effects of opioid addiction.
Bellin Health Emergency Medicine Dr. Paul Casey says they see at least one person with an opioid-related issue each day.
“A patient dropped off at the main entrance to the ED, basically clinically dead, not breathing, no pulse and blue but still warm. So we immediately had to rush out and bring the patient immediately back to the ED, and there was a high suspicion that it was a heroin overdose.”
From July 2016 to September 2017, the Centers for Disease Control says Wisconsin has seen a 109% increase in the number of emergency room visits for opioid overdoses.
“That’s alarming because if you look at a graph over the past 20 years, the rise in opioid has risen markedly. It’s become the top cause of death in terms of overdoses.”
In January, Bellin Health Emergency Medicine started offering recovery coaches for patients who experienced an opioid overdose.
Mandy Suthers is one of those coaches.
“Our main goal when we get in there is to find out how the person is feeling on what their thoughts are if they even want to get sober or not or if they want to start that pathway. If they do, our main objective is to try to get them into treatment if we can.”
