Medication-Assisted Treatment at SHC

August 2019

New funding to fight opioid addiction...

If you haven’t already heard of MAT, chances are good you will soon. With opioid abuse claiming untold lives across the nation, MAT is the most current and promising strategy for combating substance use disorders, including opioid addiction.

MAT -- medication-assisted treatment -- is the use of medications combined with counseling and behavioral therapies to provide a “whole-patient” approach to treat substance use disorders. MAT has proven to be clinically effective and to significantly reduce the need for inpatient detoxification services.

Historically, counseling and support were the main treatment strategies for addiction. As a result, patients needing help were referred away from primary care clinics to addiction treatment centers. But now, highly effective medications can be used in primary care settings and can make a significant impact on people’s lives. That patients can get this critical treatment directly from their primary care providers makes it far more accessible and more affordable.

MAT fits perfectly with School Health Clinics’ patient-centered model that coordinates care through primary physicians - ensuring that patients receive necessary care when and where they need it, and leveraging the strong and trusting relationship between patient and provider.

To help build capacity to provide MAT services, in July School Health Clinics received a $50,000 grant from The Center at The Sierra Foundation through its MAT Access Points Project. The grant will support additional behavioral health staff and staff training on the MAT care model. The MAT Access Points Project is funded through the Department of Health Care Services California MAT Expansion Project and administered by The Center at Sierra Health Foundation. Learn more at https://mataccesspoints.org.

We are grateful to The Center at The Sierra Foundation for this important funding that will help ensure positive treatment outcomes, safe management of care transitions and long-term recovery for people with opioid and other substance use disorders.

School Health Clinics’ MAT champion...

Angela Bymaster, M.D. has had a life-long personal and professional commitment to serve those in need. As a long-time resident of the Washington neighborhood and a Family Medicine Physician at the Washington Neighborhood Health Clinic, many of her patients are also her fellow community members.

Dr. Bymaster has been interested in addiction disorders since she attended medical school, and developed an expertise in addiction medicine long before the current opioid crisis. Prior to joining School Health Clinics in 2015, she worked extensively with individuals addicted to heroin at the county homeless program, and helped write the county's protocols around safe opioid prescribing. She and her colleagues provided MAT-type services before MAT was a ‘thing’ - offering medication and group therapy to hundreds of heroin-addicted patients.

Today, Dr. Bymaster estimates that up to 20% of her patients (adolescent and adult) at the Washington Neighborhood Clinic struggle with some type of substance use disorder, including alcohol abuse. She is a strong advocate of strengthening School Health Clinics’ capacity to deliver MAT services, and has seen first-hand how successful MAT can be.

She recounts the example of a young woman she encountered many years ago at the county homeless program who was heavily addicted to painkillers (with at least one near-death overdose), but unwilling to consider treatment. Several years later when the same patient came to the Washington Clinic in search of pain medication, Dr. Bymaster encouraged her to try medication-assisted treatment. With consistent drug-therapy and counseling, and a lot of hard work, in time she was able to become completely drug-free. Now employed, married and ready to start a family, she no longer spends her days searching for drugs. The sad fact that many, many addiction stories do not have this happy ending makes this patient’s success all the more meaningful for Dr. Bymaster.

Highly skilled, dedicated providers are the backbone of School Health Clinics, and we are honored to have Dr. Bymaster’s expertise and deep commitment to serving this community and treating these challenging disorders.

Coming in October...

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School Health Clinics of Santa Clara County
Our mission is to provide high quality, affordable primary medical care
for the low income community.