Project ASSERT Launches At Lawrence + Memorial Hospital

New London CT

15 July, 2020

1:46 PM

Description

Press release from Yale New Haven Health: July 15, 2020 The Yale University Department of Emergency Medicine (DEM), in collaboration with Yale New Haven Health Systems (YNHHS), is excited to announce the expansion of Project ASSERT (Alcohol & Substance use Services, Education, & Referral to Treatment) and its launch at Lawrence + Memorial (L&M) Hospital. Established in 1996, Project ASSERT has connected more than 52,200 ED patients with life-saving, community-based alcohol and drug treatment services.Connecticut is among the 10 states with the highest rates of opioid-related overdose deaths —with 27.4 deaths per every 100,000 people.Dr. Craig Mittleman, Medical Director of the Emergency Department at L + M says, "Project ASSERT has been at the forefront of battling substance use disorders, including the opioid epidemic and we are hopeful that expanding the project at L + M will have a huge impact on our community, reducing morbidity and mortality and providing much needed support to patients and their families." The joint university-hospital effort recently received a $4.8 million grant from the federal Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration to expand not only geographically, but to also expand SUD screening, intervention and referral services to patients at risk for or having moderate or severe SUD, focusing on patients who are uninsured or covered by Medicaid. In addition, the program will prepare primary care providers to prescribe buprenorphine at their practices.Gail D'Onofrio, MD, YNHH chief of Emergency Medicine and Yale School of Medicine (YSM) chair of Emergency Medicine, is principal investigator for the project. "Given the success rate and life-saving impact of Project ASSERT, and in response to the rapidly escalating opioid crisis, we realized it was important to expand to other geographic regions to serve a broad range of patients with substance use disorders (SUD). We are thrilled that the program is being implemented at L + M."Michael Pantalon, PhD, psychologist and senior research scientist at YSM emergency medicine, and Project ASSERT Co-Lead, says, "Our ASSERT health promotion advocates play a critical role in reversing the decades long problem of those with the greatest need receiving the least effective treatment, if any at all." This press release was produced by Yale New Haven Health. The views expressed here are the author's own.