Newark gets its own mobile addiction treatment vehicle

🔵 A new mobile addiction treatment vehicle has launched in Newark

🔵 It goes out to the hardest hit sections of the city to offer treatments

🔵 Medicine can be prescribed right from the vehicle, if needed

NEWARK — One of the largest not-for-profit providers of substance use disorder treatment and mental health services in New Jersey called Integrity House, has formally launched its new mobile addiction treatment vehicle in Newark, funded by the New Jersey Department of Human Services.

What is the Integrity House mobile vehicle?

Integrity House has been around since 1968 offering a large array of services like residential and outpatient treatment, said President and CEO Robert Budsock.

“We have identified that Newark has been hard hit by the opioid overdose epidemic. There are many people in the city who don’t have access to services,” Budsock said.

So, Integrity House in collaboration with the Department of Human Services and with the City of Newark has decided to take the services into the community to meet the individuals where they may be, he added.

Where can the vehicle be found?

In collaboration with the Newark Community Street Team, the Integrity House staff will identify the hot spots in the City of Newark where the most overdoses are occurring.

That’s where the mobile addiction treatment vehicle will go, bringing services to the people, as opposed to sitting back and waiting for them to ask for help, Budsock said.

The vehicle will go out to hot spots identified by the street team and will use that data to identify where they will be on a particular day of the week. Budsock said the vehicle will be out and about in Newark Monday through Friday.

What services does the vehicle provide?

The vehicle will be staffed with a peer recovery specialist, a program manager, an advanced practice nurse who has prescribing privileges, and an additional peer recovery specialist that is in charge of case management and care coordination.

When the vehicle comes into a community and someone in need of help approaches the vehicle, there will be screening for substance use disorder, assessments for substance use disorder, and co-occurring mental health services. If they need a prescription, medications to manage opiate use disorder can be prescribed right from the vehicle.

“Eventually the goal is while we’re meeting folks in the community where they’re at, the goal is to get them connected to a brick-and-mortar location either at Integrity House or another service provider in the greater Newark area,” Budsock said.

After hot spots are identified, the schedule could change week-to-week based on the greatest areas of need in the City of Newark. Budsock hopes to soon publish where the addiction treatment vehicle will be each day of the week. That will be done once a good pattern of deploying the vehicle is established.

The vehicle is out and about and has been very well received by Newark residents. Budsock said he expects that every day when the vehicle is out there, it will attract more people.

What is the eventual goal?

“In addition to the immediate access to assessment and services and medications that help with opiate use disorders, in the future, they hope to do harm reduction which involves distributing Narcan and fentanyl testing strips where if someone is using drugs, they can actually test the drug before they use them to avoid an accidental opioid overdose,” Budsock said.

There have been almost 1,000 opioid overdoses in New Jersey so far this year, Budsock said, which is unacceptable.

So, the goal is to turn the tide on the overdose epidemic and to reduce the number of people who are dying from drug overdose every year, he said.

“When you’re using drugs and addicted to drugs, you live in the shadows, you live in isolation and what we’re hoping to do is to penetrate these communities that are hard hit, and to pull people out of these communities and get them engaged into treatment, and eventually have them rebuild a new life for themselves and go on to become a productive member of their community,” Budsock said.

This is not the first mobile addiction treatment vehicle in New Jersey. Budsock said there is also one in Atlantic County earlier this year.

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