Intervention/Treatment and Recovery (ITR)
chaired by Dr. Richard Rubinson.
- Other chairs of Intervention/Treatment and Recovery Committee have been Hugh Gentry
and David Brown, and Ben Turnbull.
- The ITR Committee developed Project First Aid, an educational program
originally designed to increase intervention skills and then modified to be used in the
work environment.
- ITR, with the help of Andersen Consulting, did an assessment of need and found
that the unmet need for treatment services in the State of Florida was $289 million.
- Freedom From Drugs Day, a showcase of over 60 Miami Dade drug prevention,
intervention, treatment and law enforcement resources, provided information to over 3500
attendees.
- Actress/Author Suzanne Sommers came to Miami and candidly discussed the
addictions she has faced in her life.
- The Addiction Services Board a public/private advisory board to County
Commission, was created by ordinance. Today, the board provides valuable oversight in
the addiction arena.
- Miami was awarded a CSAT grant to develop a centralized intake system. Over
the years and under the guidance of the Department of Children and Families, a
utilization management system for adult residential care has been established. That
developing system has resulted in a reduction in the "waiting list"
(those seeking treatment) from over 1500 to 43. The current utilization management process
will continue to be improved and be expanded to include day/night treatment, outpatient
and children’s substance abuse modalities. All of this will result in 24 hour access
to treatment and better client to resource matching and tracking. But we must find
secure funding for our treatment providers so there are places to which we can refer
those seeking help.
- Several sub-committees have been created to address specific needs. One such committee, The
Women’s Task Force, was created to understand why we were seeking a reduction in
the number of identified addicted women and children seeking assistance. As a result of
this committee there will be:
- A three month trial
project at Jackson Memorial Hospital with screenings of all pregnant women
and children to determine number of cases.
- The creation of a drug dependency court to allow
earlier intervention with those families in the court system.
- A willingness of the part of the major hospitals to
participate in a project to help the community determine the extent of the problem.
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