By Dawn De Busk

Staff Writer

Nothing says hospitality like finding out your guest’s favorite beverage beforehand and having it there when he or she arrives.  

When the head of Maine’s Center for Disease Control (CDC) Dr. Nirav Shah visited Bridgton, the CEO of Crooked River Counseling greeted him with a six-pack of Diet Coke.

On Aug. 31, Dr. Shah made an early morning visit to Bridgton, stopping at the Bridgton Hospital, the Lake Region Recovery Center and CRC.

“It was an honor to meet and host Dr. Shah and his team,” according to CRC’s founder and Chief Executive Officer Clough-Bell.

“CRC works closely with LRRC and does many events together, including the visit with Dr. Shah,” she said. 

“He inquired about the number of people CRC serves and are assessing medication assisted treatment (MAT) under our designation as an Opioid Health Home,” Clough-Bell said. 

She said after a quick tour, Dr. Shah sat down and they talked for about 45 minutes. 

“We talked at length about the increasing prevalence of stimulant use disorders and the trend of many with opioid use disorders dropping out of treatment as a result,” Clough-Bell said. 

“The center’s MAT provider discussed the difficulty active stimulant use disorder presents when providing MAT and the increased risk of overdose when people drop out of treatment,” she said. “This lead us into the discussion of the low barrier, evidence based contingency management pilot program that  CRC will begin to deliver in mid-November.”

“This pilot program funded in part by the State of Maine, DHHS, Office of Behavioral Health and is specifically designed for people with stimulant use and other co-occuring substance use disorders,” she explained.  

“We discussed some of the expected outcomes of this new program such as an increase in engagement in treatment, reduction of use, less risky behaviors and reducing the risk of overdose,” she said.  

Dr. Shah shared that he was familiar with the contingency management approach during his residency, she said.   

“He did state we should stay tuned for an announcement from Janet Mills,” she said.  

Later that day, Gov. Mills office announced $2 million to be used toward treating Substance Use Disorder in rural Maine.

“People in this region will benefit by having access to low barrier, evidence-based treatment for stimulant use and other co-occuring substance use disorders,” Clough-Bell said. 

“We discussed the current funding CRC has available through the State of Maine, DHHS for the uninsured. It includes coverage for the cost of medication for those who need it,” she said.   

“He did talk about overdose statistics for June and said they weren’t good but was not specific,” she said. 

According the Maine Drug Data hub, during the month of June, there were 965 overdoses and 69 fatalities. 

During the first six months of this year, the total number of overdose deaths was 329, the website said.