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This continuity of care is critical for someone who, for example, is moving from our short-term residential program to one of our outpatient programs.” Second, once patients have received initial treatment, they have access to ongoing care in a setting that they know well and where they are well known by our team. That might mean anything from medical detoxification for opioid dependence in our inpatient medical unit to participating in our intensive outpatient program. “First, we’re able to ‘meet them where they are’ in terms of their current situation, so that regardless of the nature or severity of the challenges they are facing, they can begin treatment right away.
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Michael Paolello, chief clinical officer, addiction treatment services at the medical center, adds that providing this wide range of services benefits people with a SUD in two ways.
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Reddy, a board-certified psychiatrist and addiction specialist. “The American Society of Addiction Medicine, or ASAM, designates five levels of care for substance use disorders, from early intervention and outpatient services at one end of the continuum to medically managed intensive inpatient services at the other end, and I am proud to say that our program is one of the few in the metropolitan area to provide all five levels,” said Dr. Srikanth Reddy, MD, chief of Addiction Services at Bergen New Bridge Medical Center, explains that the Paramus hospital’s Substance Use Disorder Treatment Program offers services ranging from inpatient medical detoxification to an intensive outpatient program and care for patients’ other medical needs. In fact, people living in or near northern New Jersey who are struggling with alcohol, prescription medications, or illicit drugs need travel no further than Paramus to receive comprehensive care without being distanced from their families, friends, schools or jobs. The road to recovery from a substance use disorder (SUD) can be a long one, but that doesn’t mean it needs to take you far from home. Taking a comprehensive approach to care is more important today than ever before, given the stresses created by the COVID-19 pandemic.
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