Prisma Health opened Addiction Medicine Center and Greenville Memorial Hospital701 Grove Road, a new program that expands the scope of the Battle of Prisma opioid addiction in upstate.

The center is based in Greenville, but is spread throughout the state’s largest healthcare system. We partner with Clemson University, University of South Carolina, and Furman University to leverage the expertise and resources the school offers.

As street drugs became increasingly laced with synthetic opioids such as fentanyl, the number of South Carolina people who died from overdoses rose from 692 in the 12 months through January 2015 to 2022. 2,185 in the 12 months to April 2019, an increase of 215%. According to the Centers for Disease Control. Overdose deaths increased by 15.5% between 2021 and 2022.

According to Prisma, the center combines therapy and research to break the cycle of addiction.

“The victims of opioid addiction in South Carolina and across the country give our work in this area historic urgency,” said Dr. Alan Litwin, Executive Director of the Center.

“Open 24/7, emergency departments are often the first and only place in health care to recognize and engage people with substance use disorders and/or related infections. emergency department At Prisma Health Greenville Memorial Hospital.

Ashton Hunt, a Prisma Health patient for three years, struggled with opioid addiction for several years before switching to Prisma. She tried many other programs, but they didn’t work for her.

After years of addiction, her health deteriorated and eventually she developed a blood disease and was admitted to Greenville Memorial Hospital. She was one of the program’s first patients, and for three years she has not felt the need to use opioids, she said.

“They gave me a sense of self-respect and freedom,” she said.

6 cores in the center

The Addiction Medicine Center consists of six cores:

• education and mentoring
• Data linkage
• Prevention and public health
• treatment and recovery
• research
• technology and innovation