More than 93,000 Americans fatally overdosed in 2020, a 29% increase from the prior year. The Virginia medical examiner’s office projects that about 2,620 Virginians will die from overdoses of fentanyl, cocaine, heroin, prescription opioids, methamphetamine and other drugs in 2021 — a 13 percent increase from 2020 which was already a record year.
Spero Health, a national leader who has helped more than 25,000 patients on their journey to stable recovery from addiction, just announced it is opening 2 new clinics. The Danville, VA clinic opens Monday, December 6th and is located 789 Piney Forest Road, and the Roanoke, VA clinic, opens Monday, December 13th is located at 2502 Broadway Avenue SW. These new clinics join a network of more than 65 Spero Health locations throughout Kentucky, Ohio, Tennessee, Indiana, and Virginia and accept Virginia Medicaid and most commercial insurance plans. Both clinics are scheduling immediate appointments and individuals who need addiction treatment services are encouraged to walk-in for help or can call: Danville location, 434-208-2987 or the Roanoke location, 540-329-5325 for more information or to schedule an appointment.
These two new openings are in-line with organizational plans to rapidly expand across Virginia throughout 2022 to address community needs for individuals to have local access to addiction treatment services close to home. “Drug fatalities in Virginia increased 36 percent after COVID-19 hit because of availability to illicit drugs, especially fentanyl which accounted for 72% of all overdose deaths last year in the state. It’s an extremely dangerous substance and often gets mixed in with other drugs and users unknowingly ingest it. More than half a million Americans have died of an overdose from opioids in the past two decades, and the number of people dying continues to go up. This was a public health crisis that was worse than the pandemic, and it gets a lot less attention. In both the Danville and Roanoke communities, we want to be a solution to families, friends and neighbors who are struggling with addiction giving them a place to turn by offering immediate access to care that is both affordable and close to home,” said Steve Priest, CEO of Spero Health.
Spero Health utilizes an innovative evidence-based integrated care model that combines both physical and behavioral healthcare services under one roof. Going into more details about the services patients can expect to receive at Spero Health, David Hayden, Senior VP of Clinical Services said, “We want everyone to know that recovery is possible. Spero Health’s goal is to engage patients where they are in their journey and personalize the program to meet their specific needs so they can stabilize allowing for interventions to support sustained recovery efforts. Patients will have weekly access to a physician or nurse practitioner, counseling and recovery support services that help link them back to the community to address other issues such as housing, food insecurity, employment and much more.”