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CHARLESTON - West Virginia experts on addiction say another crisis looms over the COVID-19 pandemic. Dr. Jim Berry, chair of behavioral health at West Virginia University, worries that as people in isolation turn to alcohol and drugs to cope, mental health care and substance use disorder treatment providers aren’t equipped to handle an increase in overdoses and new patients seeking help. West Virginians keep hearing predictions about a surge in COVID-19 cases, Berry noted. West Virginians haven’t been hearing about an upcoming surge in addiction, Berry added. "And we’re going to see more overdoses," he said. "We’re going to see more suicides. And we’re going to see more infectious disease because of this crisis and people who are going to be returning to their substances to try to deal with this anxiety and this fear that exists right now. "People are going to suffer from trauma. They’re going to suffer from grief as they see other people die. For years, West Virginia has had the highest rate of overdose deaths in the country. Th is c onte nt was g​en erated  by G SA C ontent Gen erator Demov᠎ersion!

Last year, nearly 1,000 West Virginians died from overdoses. Berry noted that during the COVID-19 crisis, addiction and mental illness don’t go away. "Quite the contrary," he said. "It’s going to be exacerbated because people are going to be afraid and people are going to be isolated. And fear and isolation are going to drive addiction. It’s just the reality, and if we don’t pay attention to this, and we don’t take this as seriously as our physical health problems, then we are going to find ourselves in an even worse state of despair than we were before. He said that West Virginia’s behavioral health system was already undervalued, providers were already understaffed and mental health workers were already poorly paid. He also noted that because mental health affects physical health, placing more value on mental health and substance use treatment would reduce long-term physical health care costs. On March 27, West Virginia’s Alcohol Beverage Control Administration reported "an influx of out-of-state and in-state people purchasing liquor in West Virginia." National news outlets have reported that alcohol sales have increased nationwide.

"People have a lot of downtime, a lot of alone time, and a lot of time that they just don’t know what to do, and they’ll turn to drinking, Deals and then that’s going to put them at risk," Berry said. While he urged people not to use drugs, he also reminded people who use drugs and alcohol to practice social distancing, practice frequent hand washing or use hand sanitizer if soap and water aren’t available, and wash areas of skin that may be contaminated by drug supplies, such as skin over a vein. The West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources sent a memo to addiction treatment providers Monday, advising them to halt new admissions to residential treatment facilities. Meanwhile, nursing homes were still taking new patients. DHHR rescinded that memo Thursday after criticism. Berry worries that during the few days it was in effect, people in need of treatment did not receive it.  Con tent　h​as be en g᠎enerat​ed wi th G SA Con​tent  Generator Demover sion .

He said a number of treatment providers reached out to him "expressing grave concern that people would fall through the cracks, and treatment programs would be left unable to serve people who desperately need treatment during that time," he said. "There were a few treatment providers in the state that have reached out to me expressing grave concern that they would have to be shut down if this freeze was in place for Deals 14 days or longer," he said. Berry said WVU had told DHHR that its residential treatment workers were already making changes in response to COVID-19, including no longer putting two people in one room, limiting visitation, increasing cleaning and practicing social distancing. "There are a number of various treatments that are done within a community, such as nursing homes, such as skilled nursing programs and physical rehab programs," Berry said. Randy Venable, a licensed psychologist and chief clinical officer at FMRS Health Systems, a mental health care provider with locations in Beckley, Fayetteville, Union and Hinton, said during the time the order was in place, FMRS placed people they normally would have placed in residential treatment in a lower level of treatment, intensive outpatient treatment.

That means patients still reside in their own homes but spend much of their time in treatment. "You’ve got to meet people where they are and what they want to hear is that you’re still willing to help them, and there’s still help available, and we’re going to figure that out," he said. "That’s what keeps somebody engaged. At FMRS, people in intensive outpatient treatment are at FRMS "multiple hours a week, typically daily," he said. Venable also thinks West Virginia may see an increase in addiction and overdoses. He added that FMRS is offering peer support virtually and by telephone. "But with the increased anxiety that the whole world is under right now and some of the social isolation, I would say that’s definitely a concern,"" he said. So far, overdose calls in Raleigh County have not increased, Raleigh Emergency Operations Center Emergency Planner Cody Fortner said last week. And HELP4WV reported last week that calls for referrals to addiction treatment had remained at pre-COVID levels.