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$1M gift will back Plymouth hospital's substance abuse program

3/11/2015

 
Mary Whitfill | The Patriot Ledger   March 10, 2015

PLYMOUTH – A local resident has donated $1 million to Beth Israel Deaconess Hospital-Plymouth to support the hospital’s new substance abuse and behavioral health program. The donor, who has decided to remain anonymous, will donate $250,000 a year through 2018.

“This donation is a much-appreciated vote of confidence and investment in our organization and the health of our community,” Beth Israel Deaconess Hospital-Plymouth President Peter Holden said in a press release.
The hospital says its Integrated Care Initiative brings together primary care providers, social workers, physicians, psychiatrists and others involved in behavioral health to meet the medical and substance abuse needs of local individuals and families. The initiative was launched in 2014.

Plymouth Town Manager Melissa Arrighi said: “We’ve internally put together a drug task force that includes representatives from Beth Israel Deaconess. ...This donation is fantastic news. I think it is only going to help fund and secure something we are all trying to do as a community, which is come up with some kind of plan for prevention, education and treatment. A $1 million dollar donation is pretty amazing.”

The donation will help fund the creation of an outpatient opiate addiction treatment program later this year, the hospital said.

“I think that type of generous donation is a reflection of the work that Peter and (Beth Israel) are doing,” said state Rep. James Cantwell, D-Marshfield. “...What they’re doing is what you would expect any high-quality regional hospital to do.” 

Beth-Israel Deaconess-Plymouth spokesman Chris Smalley said the donation will help the hospital hire clinicians for the program.

Emily Davern, the hospital’s supervisor of community social work, said. “Our hope and our plan is that we will be able to have an outpatient program which will offer medical assistance to patients to help them recover from opioid addition, including case management and behavioral health services for individuals.”

In 2013, 85 people died from unintentional overdoses in Plymouth County, up from 54 in 2012, according to data from the state Department of Public Health.

“It has become a particular problem here in the South Shore, and people are really coming together to fight the epidemic,” Cantwell said.

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