Riverbend and Lowell General Hospital Mark One Year of Recovery Coach Program

A pilot program at Riverbend and Lowell General Hospital (LGH) placing recovery coaches in the emergency department has marked its first anniversary. The program connects patients with substance use treatment directly from triage, improving access to detox services.

This initiative aims to reduce stigma and provide compassionate, nonjudgmental care, offering practical support, such as cellphones and essential items, to help patients connect with treatment.

Funding for the program comes from a $250,000 Linkages to Care Grant from Rize Massachusetts to strengthen care transitions and reduce access barriers across care levels.

The (Lowell) Sun spoke with one of these coaches, Carmine Solimini. Over the course of the program's pilot year, in which he worked the 3 p.m. to midnight shift Tuesday through Saturday, Solimini experienced 406 “encounters,” where he was invited into a patient's care team because the patient was being seen for something related to substance use or the patient requested him themselves. Solimini said that of this number, 218, approximately 54%, were placed into detox.

“In our industry, 54% is a crazy number. It is generally 10% or lower that want to go to detox through the ED,” said Solimini in a statement shared with The Sun. “People know now they are going to be treated with kindness, and they won't be judged and stigmatized. All of that is gone.”

Among patients not immediately placed in detox, 138 were discharged from the ED. Forty-four entered detox through follow-up efforts; some patients were not ready for treatment at the time.

Now that the pilot program has completed its first year and following Solimini's meticulous data collection, Riverbend and LGH officials hope the program can be expanded. They seek to increase the number of people working within it and to offer recovery coach services to other hospitals within the Tufts Medicine network and beyond.

Those who want to pursue recovery coaching through the partnership between Riverbend and LGH can call Solimini at 978-337-3181 or the LGH Bridge to Recovery Care team at 978-934-8494.