Helping to ‘make them feel human’: MultiCare Deaconess team breaks down hospital’s barriers to opioid addiction treatment

When MultiCare peer support liaison Chandelle Gill speaks to a patient about their addiction, she can see herself.

“It is a very different conversation than when you talk to a provider. Because as much as they can care and they’re empathetic and want to help, there is a lack of personal understanding,” she said. “I have been exactly where they are, and I can make them feel like a human.”

Gill is one of two members of MultiCare’s Medications for Opioid Use Disorder Resource Team, which focuses specifically on Deaconess patients with opioid use disorder.

While working at Deaconess before the team started five years ago, nurse Sarah Welty saw how patients struggling with addiction often fell through the cracks.

“Historically, we haven’t done a great job managing people’s withdrawal symptoms, so those patients are at huge risk to leave against medical advice. Oftentimes they have pretty severe acute illness going on, oftentimes related to an underlying chronic condition, and they really need care. But if you’re not handling their withdrawal symptoms, they leave,” Welty said.

While other providers can focus on other physical ailments that brought them to the emergency room, Welty and Gill can treat withdrawal systems and get them long-term help for their addiction.

That can often be different for each patient, Welty said. Sometimes they just put together Narcan, warming kits and hygiene supplies before the patient leaves. They can start medication to treat withdrawal and addiction symptoms. Or they can be connected with an opioid treatment program in the community.

“Everybody’s recovery is individualized and looks different. We’re not looking for hundred-percent total abstinence. We’re looking to meet them where they’re at and letting them know that they get to make the decisions about their next steps in recovery,” she said.

Stigma in hospitals related to opioid use prevented Gill from getting help many times.

“I had a lot of fear when I ended up in the hospital. I was afraid the authorities would be called. And going into a hospital and feeling like a pariah does not make it feel like you have a choice in addressing your addiction,” she said. “Nurses might make sure you’re still breathing, but they don’t talk to you. Nobody is there to make you feel comfortable.”

As a former addict, Gill hopes her role as a peer can make patients more comfortable receiving assistance.

The team sees approximately 600 patients a year, though many of them come into the hospital system multiple times throughout a year. Most patients come through the emergency department, where withdrawal symptoms become apparent.

The two-person team is the only hospital-based MOUD team in Eastern Washington and last week, the Deaconess team was awarded the Washington State Hospital Association’s Community Health Leadership Award.

“Their commitment to equity, harm reduction and whole-person care is transforming lives and setting a powerful example for hospitals across Washington state,” WSHA CEO Cassie Sauer said in a statement.

Welty hopes the recognition helps other hospitals in Washington develop similar programs.

“It was humbling to see others say hospitals should look to what we’re doing as a template,” Welty said. “We are trying for people to understand this is a safe space where they can get treatment and be respected at the same time.”