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Oriana House receives $1.57 million grant for injection to treat opioid addiction
TRACEY BLAIR
Legal News Reporter
Published: June 14, 2019
Growing up, Anton Nischt had self-image issues.
Like many teens, he and his friends at Copley High School experimented with alcohol and marijuana.
After high school, his experimentation escalated with pills – including Xanax, Adderall and ecstasy.
Then, for the first time, he met a woman he felt liked him for himself.
“I found out she was doing heroin,” said Nischt, now 24. “It was a red flag, but I was so emotionally unstable that I didn’t want to walk away from someone who cared about me.”
At first, he resisted heroin. But soon, Nischt – who had a good job at the time – realized he was supporting his girlfriend’s habit. He threatened to leave.
“One day, she had some powder and she told me it was Xanax,” he said.
Nischt snorted the “Xanax,” only to learn a couple days later what it really was.
“I figured if I’m going to support her habit and hang around her, I might as well benefit from it,” he said. “I had already crossed the line.”
One day, his girlfriend confessed she had feelings for somebody else.
“I walked away from that situation, even though it broke my heart,” he said.
Then he wondered what it would be like if he did more heroin.
“I bought a half gram – there was probably Fentanyl in it – and in 2016 I overdosed,” Nischt said. “I was off and running at that point. I was doing it every day to cover a broken heart. My entire life was devoted to drugs, which made me do things I told myself I’d never do. I stole from family, robbed people; passed bad checks.
“I got fired from my job, but I was not ready to quit or go to rehab. I took over my dad’s lawn mowing company when he got sick. I started calling all the customers saying, `You gotta pay in cash.’ It was a mess. My income dried up and I didn’t know what to do. My mom tried to get me on methadone, but there were too many hoops to jump through.”
He got arrested for possession and violated probation by “dropping dirty” three times. He went back to jail, which forced him to go through withdrawal.
“I never used opiates again after detox. I did still smoke and drink and do meth, but opiates were my Achilles Tendon,” Nischt said.
So to stay clean, Nischt agreed to try an injection called Vivitrol – a non-addictive, extended release, injectable prescription medicine that blocks the effects of opioids for about 30 days and greatly reduces cravings – through the Summit County Drug Court Program.
He stayed on Vivitrol a total of 13 months and has been clean from all of his vices for 26 months.
Allyse Hawkins, clinical manager at Oriana House, a non-profit, community corrections and substance abuse treatment agency in Akron, considers Nischt a Vivitrol success story.
“Anton continues to come back to his unit and tells his stories of addiction,” Hawkins said. “He came from a good family in Copley, but ended up homeless and living in his car. Now he wants to be a recovery coach and work here, and has applied to be an Akron police officer.”
Hawkins is optimistic there will be many more success stories now that Oriana House has received a three year, $1.57 million Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration grant to help eligible clients in the Summit County Community Based Correctional Facilities who are struggling with opiate addiction.
The grant will provide monthly Vivitrol injections to 107 people a year who are clients in the addiction treatment unit of either the Summit County CBCF for men or the Cliff Skeen CBCF for women. All clients in these units have a substance use disorder diagnosis and undergo comprehensive substance use and mental health screenings to identify if there are co-occurring disorders and to develop individualized treatment plans.
In Ohio, offenders sentenced to a CBCF spend between 120 and 180 days in a residential setting and are not Medicaid eligible. After release from the treatment units clients will be enrolled/reenrolled in Medicaid and will be eligible to receive Vivitrol on an outpatient basis at Rigel Recovery Services, the arm of Oriana House that provides comprehensive substance abuse treatment services.
Clients will then continue their medication-assisted treatment programming and aftercare at Rigel until no longer medically necessary – four months minimum, in most cases.
Sally Longstreth Fluck, Oriana House clinical manager, said the significance of the grant is that it allows the Vivitrol treatment to begin in the residential setting.
“Getting individuals started on Vivitrol while they are in a facility with staff who provide support and coaching to keep them on the right track makes a huge difference when they are released,” Fluck said. “Now when they return to the community, they are already aware of the significance of the medication because their cravings have subsided and they’ve been able to make strides in their recovery. This increases the likelihood of their success in maintaining sobriety.”
With the grant, Oriana House is also developing a web-based application that clients will be able to use after release from the CBCF and while at Rigel Recovery. The application will have recovery resources including a sober events calendar and contact information for treatment staff at Alcoholics Anonymous and Narcotics Anonymous meetings.
Meanwhile, Nischt has been working a steady job doing equipment maintenance for a bulk transfer company for 14 months and is engaged to be married to a woman he met after he became sober.
Nischt stressed that Vivitrol is but one tool in recovery.
“I believe Vivitrol curbed my cravings long enough for me to focus and give me time to make something of myself,” he said. “But it’s more than just getting a shot every month. It’s also about counseling, and meetings, aftercare, spirituality and having a support circle.”