Spartanburg Medical Center’s ER adds recovery coaches to help those struggling with addiction.

Three full-time and one part-time peer recovery coaches staff the ER station at Spartanburg Medical Center in shifts from 6 a.m. to 2 a.m., seven days a week. The program started about two weeks ago, making it the third such service in the state.

A peer recovery coach embedded in the emergency room as part of a fledgling program run by the Forrester Center for Behavioral Health and Spartanburg Regional Healthcare System.

“That ability to connect and understand addiction on a personal level is what Forrester Center Executive Director Sue O’Brien said makes the new Hospital Peer Navigator Program such a powerful tool.”

The opioid crises is huge! Fentanyl deaths reported in Spartanburg County have more than doubled in two years, according to a recent report from the Coroner’s Office, from 18 in 2016 to 38 in 2018.

Read the entire article on GoUpstate.com.