National surveys are reporting a drop in the rate of fatal drug overdose deaths in the United States. Many public health experts credit life-saving medications and treatment programs for the improvement.
In the Pee Dee region of South Carolina, rates of fatal drug overdoses were skyrocketing a few years ago, according to Jeri Andrews, an associate medical director at CareSouth Carolina.
"In 2022, we had over 1,100 fatal overdoses in Dillon County alone," Andrews said.
To fight the addiction problem, CareSouth Carolina provides a medicated assisted treatment program that combines the use of FDA approved medications with behavioral therapy and medically monitored therapy to help people recover from opioid use disorder and alcohol use disorder.
This program has been life-saving for many people, including Brooke Jones, a mother of two living near Aynor, South Carolina. She struggled for years to overcome her addiction to drugs but nothing worked until she discovered the MAT program.
“I have been clean since December 18, 2018 and I owe it all to the MAT program,” Jones said.
The prescribed medications helped her manage the symptoms of withdrawal while regular counseling, often through telehealth, helped her navigate through several major stressors that might have otherwise tempted her back to drugs.
“I know that there’s nothing that would make me go back to that life,” Jones said. “I got my license back, and I paid for that and I bought a car and now I’ve carried my whole family on vacation and paid for it and never thought in a million years I’d be able to do that.”
