美国国家公共电台 NPR Knocking On Doors To Get Opioid Overdose Survivors Into Treatment

 

DAVID GREENE, HOST:

This month, we have been looking at life in rural America and sharing the results of a new poll from NPR, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. It found 1 in 4 rural Americans view opioids and other drugs as the biggest problem facing their communities on par¹ with economic issues. In Appalachia, the number is even higher - 41 percent. NPR's Sarah McCammon recently traveled to Huntington, W.Va., at the heart of the opioid epidemic² to look at an innovative³ program trying to get people who overdose into treatment right away.

SARAH MCCAMMON, BYLINE⁴: Larrecsa Cox is a paramedic, but instead of an ambulance, she drives around in an old sedan - no flashing lights, no sirens. Today's first call is to a small cottage in a quiet neighborhood.

LARRECSA COX: He overdosed yesterday, and I think we've been here before. I'm almost 100 percent sure we've been to this house before.

MCCAMMON: Cox works as the only full-time⁵ member of Huntington, W.Va.'s new quick response team. The project is a collaboration⁶ between the county's medical first responders, law enforcement and several drug treatment providers. The goal is simple - track down people who've recently survived drug overdoses, visit them at home, a hospital, even in jail and tell them how to get help.

(SOUNDBITE OF KNOCKING)

MCCAMMON: Flanked by a police officer in plain clothes and a local pastor⁷ who's volunteering with the team today, Cox knocks at the man's door and waits. When there's no response, she tries calling a family member whose phone number she has in her files.

COX: We can come back later, like, when he's definitely here if that's OK.

MCCAMMON: At the next stop, trash is piled high on a curb⁸ outside what looks like an old storefront, now a makeshift residence. Cox warns us that the place is filthy⁹ inside. She's visited a lot of different people here after they overdosed, she says.

COX: Only one of which actually went into treatment. She went into outpatient treatment, but a lot of people seem to hang out here. I really don't know what to say about it.

MCCAMMON: We walk down a narrow alleyway, which smells of urine. On the back porch, a man is slumped¹⁰ over in a chair asleep. Through an open door on the side of the building, we see a stained bare mattress¹¹ piled with bedding. Cox calls out to another man inside.

COX: Is David here?

UNIDENTIFIED PERSON: Yeah, that's him.

COX: That's David. All right. Well, we'll leave this for him. Thank you.

MCCAMMON: These seemingly bleak¹² interactions are part of the process, says Connie Priddy, a registered nurse with Cabell County Emergency Medical Services.

CONNIE PRIDDY: Overdosing and having to be revived may not be the bottom for someone.

MCCAMMON: Priddy coordinates¹³ the quick response teams, which got off the ground late last year with a little over a million dollars in funding from two federal grants. She says the teams keep going back with information about clean needle programs, emergency medication for reversing overdoses and the ultimate goal - information on enrolling¹⁵ in treatment programs. For some, that means inpatient treatment. Others enroll¹⁴ in outpatient medication-assisted programs where they can keep working or going to school.

PRIDDY: We'll leave them our information. We'll go back a couple of days later and talk to them again. You know, we'll call them. We'll text them, you know. So if they're not ready, they're not ready, but we keep going back (laughter).

MCCAMMON: That follow up after an overdose is a key step in helping¹⁶ people get treatment, says Dr. Alexander Walley. He directs an addiction¹⁷ medicine fellowship at Boston Medical Center. Walley says similar programs are beginning to pop up around the country. He sees quick response teams as a promising¹⁸, if challenging, approach.

ALEXANDER WALLEY: If you've just overdosed and now you have a police officer knocking on your door, that first inclination¹⁹ among a marginalized, stigmatized²⁰ population might not be so welcoming. And so how exactly to make that contact I think is really important.

MCCAMMON: In Huntington, police officers on quick response teams wear civilian²¹ clothing and are under instructions not to make arrests even if they see drug paraphernalia²² - unless there are children at risk. And there are success stories, like Anthony Dooley. He'd struggled with alcohol, cocaine²³ and crystal meth and spent some time in jail before winding²⁴ up in a hospital earlier this year.

ANTHONY DOOLEY: It was a point in my life to where I was lost. I felt helpless. I felt pretty much where I was in life was the best that I was ever going to get.

MCCAMMON: Dooley's 32 and recently graduated from an inpatient treatment program. He says Cox's team visited him in the hospital and walked him through his options.

DOOLEY: I mean, I was just so far gone. I was sleeping on the hospital bed that they had me on, and she sat there with me the whole time. She made sure all the paperwork was done and got me some help.

MCCAMMON: Overdose calls in the Huntington area are down by about a third since the teams started going out last year. The next challenge, officials say, is figuring out how to keep funding the teams and more treatment programs. Sarah McCammon, NPR News, Huntington, W.Va.

(SOUNDBITE OF CANYONS OF STATIC'S "NEVER ALONE AGAIN")

1 par   

n.标准，票面价值，平均数量；adj.票面的，平常的，标准的

参考例句：

• Sales of nylon have been below par in recent years.近年来尼龙织品的销售额一直不及以往。
• I don't think his ability is on a par with yours.我认为他的能力不能与你的能力相媲美。

2 epidemic   

n.流行病；盛行；adj.流行性的，流传极广的

参考例句：

• That kind of epidemic disease has long been stamped out.那种传染病早已绝迹。
• The authorities tried to localise the epidemic.当局试图把流行病限制在局部范围。

3 innovative   

adj.革新的，新颖的，富有革新精神的

参考例句：

• Discover an innovative way of marketing.发现一个创新的营销方式。
• He was one of the most creative and innovative engineers of his generation.他是他那代人当中最富创造性与革新精神的工程师之一。

4 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

5 full-time   

adj.满工作日的或工作周的，全时间的

参考例句：

• A full-time job may be too much for her.全天工作她恐怕吃不消。
• I don't know how she copes with looking after her family and doing a full-time job.既要照顾家庭又要全天工作，我不知道她是如何对付的。

6 collaboration   

n.合作，协作；勾结

参考例句：

• The two companies are working in close collaboration each other.这两家公司密切合作。
• He was shot for collaboration with the enemy.他因通敌而被枪毙了。

7 pastor   

n.牧师，牧人

参考例句：

• He was the son of a poor pastor.他是一个穷牧师的儿子。
• We have no pastor at present:the church is run by five deacons.我们目前没有牧师：教会的事是由五位执事管理的。

8 curb   

n.场外证券市场，场外交易；vt.制止，抑制

参考例句：

• I could not curb my anger.我按捺不住我的愤怒。
• You must curb your daughter when you are in church.你在教堂时必须管住你的女儿。

9 filthy   

adj.卑劣的；恶劣的，肮脏的

参考例句：

• The whole river has been fouled up with filthy waste from factories.整条河都被工厂的污秽废物污染了。
• You really should throw out that filthy old sofa and get a new one.你真的应该扔掉那张肮脏的旧沙发，然后再去买张新的。

10 slumped   

大幅度下降，暴跌( slump的过去式和过去分词 )； 沉重或突然地落下[倒下]

参考例句：

• Sales have slumped this year. 今年销售量锐减。
• The driver was slumped exhausted over the wheel. 司机伏在方向盘上，疲惫得睡着了。

11 mattress   

n.床垫，床褥

参考例句：

• The straw mattress needs to be aired.草垫子该晾一晾了。
• The new mattress I bought sags in the middle.我买的新床垫中间陷了下去。

12 bleak   

adj.(天气)阴冷的；凄凉的；暗淡的

参考例句：

• They showed me into a bleak waiting room.他们引我来到一间阴冷的会客室。
• The company's prospects look pretty bleak.这家公司的前景异常暗淡。

13 coordinates   

n.相配之衣物；坐标( coordinate的名词复数 )；（颜色协调的）配套服装；[复数]女套服；同等重要的人（或物）v.使协调，使调和( coordinate的第三人称单数 )；协调；协同；成为同等

参考例句：

• The town coordinates on this map are 695037. 该镇在这幅地图上的坐标是695037。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, headed by the Emergency Relief Coordinator, coordinates all UN emergency relief. 联合国人道主义事务协调厅在紧急救济协调员领导下，负责协调联合国的所有紧急救济工作。 来自《简明英汉词典》

14 enroll   

v.招收；登记；入学；参军；成为会员（英)enrol

参考例句：

• I should like to enroll all my children in the swimming class.我愿意让我的孩子们都参加游泳班。
• They enroll him as a member of the club.他们吸收他为俱乐部会员。

15 enrolling   

v.招收( enrol的现在分词 )；吸收；入学；加入；[亦作enrol]( enroll的现在分词 )；登记，招收，使入伍（或入会、入学等），参加，成为成员；记入名册；卷起，包起

参考例句：

• They lashed out at the university enrolling system. 他们猛烈抨击大学的招生制度。 来自辞典例句
• You're enrolling in a country club, Billy. 你是注册加入乡村俱乐部了，比利。 来自辞典例句

16 helping   

n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的

参考例句：

• The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
• By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。

17 addiction   

n.上瘾入迷，嗜好

参考例句：

• He stole money from his parents to feed his addiction.他从父母那儿偷钱以满足自己的嗜好。
• Areas of drug dealing are hellholes of addiction,poverty and murder.贩卖毒品的地区往往是吸毒上瘾、贫困和发生谋杀的地方。

18 promising   

adj.有希望的，有前途的

参考例句：

• The results of the experiments are very promising.实验的结果充满了希望。
• We're trying to bring along one or two promising young swimmers.我们正设法培养出一两名有前途的年轻游泳选手。

19 inclination   

n.倾斜；点头；弯腰；斜坡；倾度；倾向；爱好

参考例句：

• She greeted us with a slight inclination of the head.她微微点头向我们致意。
• I did not feel the slightest inclination to hurry.我没有丝毫着急的意思。

20 stigmatized   

v.使受耻辱，指责，污辱( stigmatize的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• He was stigmatized as an ex-convict. 他遭人污辱，说他给判过刑。 来自辞典例句
• Such a view has been stigmatized as mechanical jurisprudence. 蔑称这种观点为机械法学。 来自辞典例句

21 civilian   

adj.平民的，民用的，民众的

参考例句：

• There is no reliable information about civilian casualties.关于平民的伤亡还没有确凿的信息。
• He resigned his commission to take up a civilian job.他辞去军职而从事平民工作。

22 paraphernalia   

n.装备；随身用品

参考例句：

• Can you move all your paraphernalia out of the way?你可以把所有的随身物品移开吗？
• All my fishing paraphernalia is in the car.我的鱼具都在汽车里。

23 cocaine   

n.可卡因，古柯碱（用作局部麻醉剂）

参考例句：

• That young man is a cocaine addict.那个年轻人吸食可卡因成瘾。
• Don't have cocaine abusively.不可滥服古柯碱。

24 winding   

n.绕，缠，绕组，线圈

参考例句：

• A winding lane led down towards the river.一条弯弯曲曲的小路通向河边。
• The winding trail caused us to lose our orientation.迂回曲折的小道使我们迷失了方向。