Salem Hospital offers recovery coaches to overdose patients

North Shore Medical Center and Bridgewell recently began offering recovery coaches at the center’s Salem Hospital for patients who are being treated for drug overdoses.

The launch of the service in Salem marks an extension of a program the hospital and Bridgewell, a nonprofit human service agency, have been offering to patients at NSMC’s Union Hospital since 2017.

The 10 recovery coaches that have been providing one-on-one support for patients at NSMC Union Hospital will now also be available to patients at NSMC Salem Hospital.

Once contacted by the center, the recovery coaches — who are provided by Bridgewell — immediately report to the hospital where the patient is receiving care to establish a relationship and begin discussions about options for treatment.

All of the coaches have personally experienced addiction or been impacted by it.

Since the program’s launch in Lynn, Bridgewell’s recovery coaches have provided face-to-face support to more than 500 people treated for an overdose at Union Hospital.

Through combined efforts with the Lynn Police Department’s behavioral health unit, Healthy Streets Outreach Program, and other community-based agencies, nearly 30 percent of those who met with recovery coaches have sought access to additional services, including detoxification, psychiatric care, self-help programs, outpatient counseling, residential treatment, and case management, according to NSMC.