They came in response to a cry for help. In Scott County, 125 residents have tested positive for HIV this year, which is 25 times the yearly average.
“We all know the problem here,” William Cooke, the town’s only physician, said. “The much more difficult problem is controlling the IV drug use.”
Scott County needs a rehabilitation center, a place for people to go and get the long-term help they need to overcome their substance abuse, Cooke said.
The specialists from around the state came from organizations such as the National Youth Advocate Program, LifeSpring Health Systems, Centerstone, Circles Campaign, IU Medicine, The Bliss House and Anthem Health Insurance, among some local faith-based and nonfaith-based rehabilitation centers.
This was the first in what Cooke said he hopes to be a series of discussions about the proposed center. During Tuesday’s meeting at the Austin Medical Center, no consensus was made on what kind of center would be established, who would lead it or how much it would cost. But Cooke said the discussion will continue through emails and phone calls until the next mass meeting in two weeks.
Throughout the meeting, which lasted an hour, attendees were given the opportunity to propose their own ideas. One idea was to mirror a “treatment train” program that saw promising results in Jefferson County, where officials reduced the number of drug and alcohol-related arrests and illnesses.
Another popular idea concerned eliminating the stigma of visiting a clinic by taking resources to drug users’ homes.
“There’s a stigma of walking into a building,” said Bobby Shepard of New Creation Addiction Ministries. “There’s a whole ‘nother message of not being afraid to start going where (patients) are, too.”
“You don’t just treat substance abuse in a matter of weeks,” one attendee said.
Another chimed in.
“Eighteen months to five years, it takes 18 months to five years.”
Gov. Mike Pence extended his declaration of a public health emergency in Scott County on Monday, extending state-funded healthcare assistance and a needle exchange program an additional 30 days.
Stretching his arms far apart, Cooke illustrated the drug abuse prevention and treatment systems already in place.
“Treatment and prevention are over here and over there,” he said. “They need to start working together better.”
The group of addiction specialists is expected to meet again in two weeks to move forward on the plans for the proposed rehab center. Until then, Cooke will continue to offer HIV testing, treatment and counseling in his clinic.
