New Vision expands addiction services at Crisp Regional

CORDELE – Drug and alcohol addiction are diseases that can affect anyone, regardless of status, wealth, race, religion or cultural background. For patients seeking treatment for alcohol and drug addiction, Crisp Regional Hospital is providing help through New Vision medical stabilization services.

New Vision offers a new kind of withdrawal and rehabilitation service that does not stigmatize the patient.

“(Patients) are treated just like any other member of the community,” New Vision Service Coordinator Ashley Williams said. “We’re not a typical psychiatric-based detox program. We’re volunteer-based. Patients aren’t stripped of their clothing and quarantined, and they look like any other patient in the hospital there for surgery.”

New Vision serves adults with a medically supervised hospital stay for inpatient stabilization, which usually lasts three to five days. The inpatient stay will include pre-screening, assessment, admission, medical stabilization and discharge planning. Upon admission, an assessment will be completed with an evaluation of the patient’s medical history, a physical, a laboratory workup and nursing assessment.

Patients can be admitted only by a licensed physician and will be admitted five days a week. Patient outcome is directly driven by the determination of the patient.

Discharge planning will occur prior to leaving the hospital. Patients will be referred to appropriate community-based treatment programs to help prevent relapse and continue their treatment. New Vision has reached out to Cordele and surrounding communities to promote community outreach for individuals suffering from addiction. Probation officers and members of the court also were contacted.

“There is a need for this service in the community as people experience issues with alcohol use,” Williams said. “And with the national impact of the opiate crisis, southwest Georgia is not exempt.”

New Vision, a hospital-based medical stabilization and withdrawal management service, is provided through a partnership with SpecialCare Hospital Management Corporation of St. Charles, Mo., and is currently offered in many hospitals across the United States. SpecialCare has been providing inpatient medical stabilization in collaboration with short-term acute-care hospitals for more than 25 years. More information can be found at www.specialcarecorp.com.

For more information about the New Vision medical stabilization service, contact New Vision at Crisp Regional Monday-Friday at (229) 276-3580.

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