A new effort to combat opioid addiction and overdose deaths opened Monday in Rhode Island. Lifespan, the state’s largest hospital system, is running an outpatient treatment facility called the Lifespan Recovery Center in Providence.
The program will operate through Rhode Island Hospital to provide more extensive outpatient treatment for opioid addicts.
Dr. Richard Goldberg is Sr. VP of Psychiatry & Behavioral Health at Lifespan. He says the Recovery Center seeks to tie together all aspects of treatment for the patient, to provide comprehensive care.
“We provide care management services, so people can address issues as diverse as transportation, housing, insurance problems that might interfere with their treatment,” Goldberg said.
Goldberg said patients are also provided with a recovery coach to help them stay on track.
“A lot of people get lost in the gap from when they present the help to when they get the help. So we’re doing as much as we can to minimize that gap,” Goldberg said.
The Lifespan Recovery Center has the capacity to treat up to 650 individuals.
Rhode Island Hospital and Lifespan Leadership were joined Monday by federal and state officials marking the opening of the center.