Recovery
The ribbon cutting ceremony for Project Hope’s residential treatment facility.
Photo by Marshall University.
On August 15, 2016, 28 people in Cabell County overdosed
on heroin mixed with fentanyl and carfentanil. While this may
have just been another day for residents entrenched in the height
of the opioid epidemic, the story gained national attention and
put Huntington on the map as the epidemic’s ground zero.
However, what one might not hear on a national news net-
work or read in a national newspaper is that Huntington is
wielding community as its primary weapon in becoming not
the epicenter of addiction but the epicenter of solutions.
“I am looking at a city that has been named the most obese,
the unhappiest, the most drug riddled and the unhealthiest,
but what I see are people fighting and finding recovery,” says
Williams, who was elected mayor of Huntington in 2012. “We
took our university, our medical and pharmacy schools and
our community members and trained them, and now we see
them playing an active role in fighting addiction. I created the
Office of Drug Control Policy here and invited others to join
me. Then the churches wanted to be involved, then businesses,
then school systems. Everything has a common thread of
ownership in the community. They say success has a thousand
parents, so that means we have tens of thousands of parents
who are owning their problems and accomplishments in
Huntington. There was a hopelessness not too long ago, but
now there is a hopefulness.”
In 2017, at the height of the drug epidemic in Cabell County,
1,831 people overdosed, resulting in 132 deaths. While the
numbers were gut-wrenching, during this time the citizens
of Huntington were busy creating new programs, opening
new treatment facilities, volunteering in adult drug court and
working together to help their neighbors, families and friends
struggling with substance use disorder. In 2018, Cabell County
Emergency Medical Services (EMS) reported 1,089 overdoses—
a 41 percent decrease.
This impressive percent decrease is significant primarily
because Cabell County was experiencing an epidemic level of
overdoses, and it cannot be denied that the community was at
work making a difference with its range of programs, treat-
ment options and initiatives all aimed at treating the causes
and effects of substance use disorder.
82
WEST VIRGINIA EXECUTIVE
One of these life-changing programs is Huntington’s quick
response team, or QRT, which is made up of law enforcement
and health care and treatment professionals who visit people
within 72 hours of an overdose to offer encouragement and
treatment options. Coordinated by Cabell County EMS, the
QRT made its first visit in December 2017. In 2018, one-third
of overdose patients visited by the QRT entered treatment.
“The QRT is starting a rapport with those suffering from
substance use disorder and those who have overdosed,” says
Huntington Fire Chief Jan Rader. “They’re keeping in touch
with them and providing a positive pathway for them to get
help when they are ready.”
The QRT often refers patients to another vital program, the
Provider Response Organization for Addiction Care & Treat-
ment, or PROACT. A 501(c)(3) single-access hub for compre-
hensive assessment, education, intervention and treatment
solutions, PROACT was established by Cabell Huntington
Hospital (CHH), Marshall Health and St. Mary’s Medical
Center as an outpatient medical facility that brings together
behavioral, social and medical resources from the community
to triage patients. It is the only referral point in the region for
patients discharged from local emergency rooms or inpatient
detox units or visited by the QRT. Substance use disorder
patients can see a physician and receive a treatment plan, clin-
ical assessment, medication-assisted treatment, peer recovery
support and individual or group therapy as well as access to
intensive outpatient services, job readiness training and job
placement assistance.
Marshall University also plays a major role in the city’s—and
the state’s—fight against addiction. The Division of Addiction
Sciences at the Joan C. Edwards School of Medicine works
tirelessly to find effective and practical solutions to this crisis.
The new PROACT building. Photo by Marshall University
School of Medicine and Marshall Health.
“The Huntington community has proven to be quite unique
in its capacity to come together with a common vision of
addressing this crisis and, as a result, has become a national
leader in the efforts to solve this countrywide problem,” says
Stephen Petrany, M.D., chair of the Department of Family
and Community Health at the school of medicine and interim
leader of the addiction services division. “Marshall’s Division of
Addiction Sciences has been able to bring in millions of dollars
in grant funding to initiate and support many projects and pro-
grams that are beginning to make a difference. We have seen
lives saved and lives renewed as a result of our shared efforts.”
Marshall’s medical, pharmacy and social work students also
play an important volunteer role in the Cabell-Huntington