Significant new safeguard on the horizon for Hazelden Betty Ford’s residential and recovery housing sites nationwide
In collaboration with the Mayo Clinic and other partners, Hazelden Betty Ford is now preparing to implement COVID-19 testing that will provide additional confidence that new patients coming into our facilities are virus-free. This is an added safeguard to the already rigorous procedures implemented in March, which include diligently screening patients upon admission, as well as daily for symptoms, and quickly discharging and providing appropriate resources to those who develop symptoms. That approach, combined with a host of other new protocols and procedures, has allowed us to maintain a remarkably safe environment and continue to serve patients at all of our sites. Testing, though, will
provide a tremendous new layer of protection and assurance for staff, patients and their families, and we are excited to be able to offer it soon.
A number of rapid COVID-19 tests utilizing blood samples from the finger have proven inaccurate. Hazelden Betty Ford is pleased, however, to be implementing the best test available right now. A nasal swab will be obtained from new patients upon arrival. They will then remain segregated until we receive lab results from Mayo Clinic, generally within 24 to 48 hours; at that time, if the test shows the coronavirus is not present, they will be able to integrate with the rest of the patients.
We are proud of the safeguards in place at our sites. They have worked, and patients have continued to arrive daily since the pandemic began. While those safeguards remain important and must be maintained, testing is an all-important next step and will be piloted at one of our sites this week. We are also looking at additional testing that would identify antibodies in patients who had previously experienced COVID-19.
Stay tuned for updates as testing becomes available at each of our sites. With substance use and anxiety on the rise, we are prepared to help more people than ever who are struggling with addiction and co-occurring mental health conditions.
RecoveryGo virtual services expand with family program offering now available to anyone, anywhere.
We are now providing a one-day virtual family program, led by our world-class clinicians, available to the loved ones of our patients and families around the country. If your patients and clients are in need of family programming, please reach out to us for options.
The new virtual family program is another highlight in our expanding RecoveryGo telehealth solutions, which also include virtual outpatient addiction treatment, mental health and recovery support services now available to your patients and clients right in their own homes. To learn more, visit our website or call a recovery expert at 1-800-257-7800.
Let's Talk Webinars
April 22
Keeping Healthy During the Pandemic
Presenters: Dr. Marvin D. Seppala, Bob Poznanovich and William C. Moyers
Join Hazelden Betty Ford Chief Medical Officer Dr. Marvin Seppala and Vice President of Business Development Bob Poznanovich for a conversation with host William C. Moyers, vice president of public affairs and community relations, to learn strategies that can support personal wellbeing amid the pandemic affecting us all. The presenters also will share how Hazelden Betty Ford is meeting the urgent needs of the people we serve with robust new COVID-19 protocols and procedures to minimize risks for residential patients and staff, and new virtual care services for outpatient, mental health and family support, along with free online resources to support recovery everywhere.
Webinars On Demand
How to Manage Stress in our Daily Lives in Uncertain Times
Presenters: Quyen Ngo, PhD, and Kate Gliske, PhD
Providing clinical care to people, families and communities dealing with addiction is difficult under the best of circumstances. But what happens when the world around us seems to be falling apart and our own self-care is at risk? How do we manage our roles as “experts” when our clients look to us for answers we may not have?
Join Quyen Ngo, PhD, executive director of Hazelden Betty Ford’s Butler Center for Research, and Research Scientist Kate Gliske, PhD, for a webinar on what happens to the brain and nervous system when we are threatened, how this is of particular importance when clients are also struggling with addiction and how to how to manage a nervous system over-run. Drs. Ngo and Gliske provide an experiential webinar that incorporates neuropsychological resources and a variety of stress and coping skills to help support the daily functioning of professionals and their patients.
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