Adventist Health Reedley awarded $205,000 to help heal opioid addiction

Reedley – Community members suffering from opioid addiction will have more healing resources in the Central Valley, thanks to a $205,000 grant that was awarded to the Adventist Health Reedley hospital.

The grant, which will fund prevention, treatment and recovery services, was awarded by The Center at Sierra Health Foundation through the Medicated Assisted Treatment (MAT) Access Points Project. Medicated-assisted treatment is the use of FDA-approved medications, in combination with counseling and behavioral therapies, to provide a "whole-patient" approach to the treatment of substance use disorders. The grant’s goal is to ensure that this treatment supports positive outcomes, safe care transitions and long-term recovery for those with opioid and other substance use disorders.

“We are thrilled to receive this generous grant,” said Dr. John Zweifler, Adventist Health medical director of clinical integration and principal investigator of the grant. “This is a big step forward in providing competent and compassionate services that will help our patients and communities to heal. It’s what our mission to live God’s love calls us to do.”

The grant will enable Adventist Health Reedley to provide an innovative program featuring mobile telehealth services to connect patients to emergency departments in Reedley and Selma, and Adventist Health clinics in Sanger and Fowler. Patients will receive care from Dr. Marc Lasher, an experienced addiction medicine specialist, who also will offer face-to-face visits and after-hour telehealth consultations. Additionally, the grant will enable Lasher to train future generations of family medicine residents in medication-assisted therapy for opioid use disorder.

Similar services were launched at Adventist Health Hanford in January. The program in Reedley will allow Adventist Health to expand its care for those experiencing substance use disorders and addiction.

The Medicated Assisted Treatment Access Points Project is funded through the California Health Care MAT Expansion Project and administered by The Center at Sierra Health Foundation. More information is available at mataccesspoints.org.