Narcotic treatment center opening in Fernley

Amy Alonzo | Fernley Leader-Courier

A new medication-assisted treatment facility to help those with opioid addictions will open this year in Fernley.

The Life Change Center, a Northern Nevada nonprofit organization that offers services to people battling opioid addiction, is establishing a narcotic treatment program in Fernley. The facility will offer medication distribution and urine analysis and is scheduled to open later this summer at 415 Hwy. 95A, in the Rural Nevada Counseling building.

The Life Change Center operates facilities in Carson City and Sparks, and is also set to open a center in Reno later this year. Life Change Center Workforce Engagement Director Steven Hammonds said patients from rural areas such as Fernley and Fallon currently travel to Sparks daily for treatment. A total of about 740 people currently receive treatment at the Sparks and Carson City facilities.

More: The science behind opioid addiction

The Fernley site is expected to treat a minimum of 30 people in its first year, Hammonds said. Within two years, estimates are it will serve upwards of 60.

Hammonds said the center has around a 75 percent success rate – after 60 days, three quarter of patients test clean of substances.

The opening of the treatment center reflects a larger effort by local policymakers and organizations to combat opioid abuse in Lyon County.

“Opioid addiction is an issue throughout the nation. It’s something all treatment providers are aware of and concerned about,” said Jessica Flood, rural regional behavioral health coordinator for Nevada Rural Hospital Partners. “In rural areas, there’s a higher percentage of people who are going to get prescribed opioids.”

In 2015, Lyon County residents received 1,300 opiate prescriptions per 1,000 people, Hammonds said. He said Wadsworth, located in Washoe County just north of Fernley, has the highest rate of emergency department visits due to opioids in the state.

In 2015, Nevada medical providers wrote 83 opioid prescriptions per 100 people, a total of 2.4 million prescriptions. According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse, the U.S. rate was 70 prescriptions per 100 people.

There were 408 opioid-related overdose deaths in Nevada in 2016, according to the institute. Between 2011 and 2016 the number of heroin-related deaths doubled from 40 to 86, while the number of deaths related to prescription opioids decreased from 362 to 275.

In addition, the Center for Disease Control (CDC) recently identified the top 220 counties nationally that are at risk of an outbreak of HIV or Hepatitis C as a result of opioid abuse. Neighboring Storey County is ranked 52nd.

Lyon County received a federal grant in 2014 to examine the interaction between behavioral health and the criminal justice system, resulting in the creation of the Behavioral Health Task Force. The task force added a subcommittee on strategic response to opioid overdose and addiction in November.

Next steps by the task force include developing a naloxone distribution plan, as well as a community outreach and education plan including utilizing the region’s fire departments to distribute information to residents in their area.

In July, naloxone training will be held in Dayton and Silver Springs. The training will cover current statutes, how to recognize someone who is overdosing and how to administer naloxone and to tell if it is working, according to Morgan Green at the Center for the Application of Substance Abuse Technology. The training is open to the general public, and everyone who attends will leave with two doses of naloxone in a nasal spray form.

“Opiates are everywhere at this point, and we just want people to have access to this medication if there is a problem at any point in time,” she said. “It’s normally the lay people who run into people with overdoses before first responders do, so it’s more effective in the hands of the community.”

An Opioid Community Response Summit is also planned for Carson City later this year.