Center In Newark Helps People Recover From Drug/Alcohol Addiction

NEWARK, NJ — A new resource is now available for people struggling to overcome alcohol and drug addictions in Essex County.

Earlier this week, the Essex Health and Wellness Recovery Center opened at Saint Michael’s Medical Center in Newark. The nonprofit facility, the first of its kind in Essex County, is designed to help individuals who have completed addiction treatment or are re-entering the community after incarceration, said Robin Lavorato, the center’s executive director.

The Recovery Center will be on-call all day, seven days a week to respond to emergency room needs, and will provide guidance to individuals and families looking for alcohol and drug use detoxification and treatment, administrators stated in a news release.

The center will be funded through private grants and donations and has not yet sought government funding. Its services will be provided free of charge.

Saint Michael’s CEO Robert Iannaccone said he offered some surplus office space in the hospital temporarily free of charge to help the program get off the ground.

“There is definitely a need in our community for the valuable services being offered by the center,” Iannaccone said. “Since our mission is to meet the healthcare needs of our community, it makes sense for us to help get this center off the ground.”

‘THE DISEASE OF ADDICTION’

“Those suffering from the disease of addiction may have completed treatment, but that is normally not enough,” Lavorato said. “The recovery supports we offer will continue the care needed and hopefully prevent further substance use.”

“The Recovery Center is about post-treatment,” Lavorato continued. “Our recovery guides and peer recovery specialists will work beside our participants. We will assist with putting lives back together through housing search, obtaining education and employment, healthcare referrals, parenting classes, exercise and diet advice, support groups, workshops and trainings. We will offer sober recreation and more.”

“Most importantly, we hear from families who have lost loved ones, in an effort to truly understand what may have been a barrier to recovery,” Lavorato said. “And we applaud and learn from individuals who are in recovery.”

Lavorato said the center will also focus on prevention.

“Law enforcement is doing amazing work, the treatment providers are innovative in their clinical care, but we need to also prevent the onset of use,” she said. “The Recovery Center will offer prevention programs to schools, religious organizations, workplace and other community members.”

Administrators said that in 2019, there were 3,021 overdose deaths in New Jersey. Essex County has the highest number of suspected overdose deaths in the state, with a total of 389 in 2019 – only two less than in 2018.

Heroin, fentanyl and cocaine are the most common drugs found in people who have died in Essex County from an overdose, administrators said.

Seeking to lower these numbers, the OTF and the Recovery Center have trained police, school staff, sober living homes and others in the administration of Naloxone, a medication that can help to reverse an opioid overdose.

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