Phila.gov
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Jefferson Health has established a coordinated, interdisciplinary, comprehensive care team to serve the complex health needs of people with substance use disorder.
The Stephen and Sandra Sheller Consult and Bridge Program, named after its philanthropists, offers a holistic approach to treating the medical needs of people with substance use disorder, who may also be experiencing homelessness. The program follows people through their medical care while they are inpatient and then steers them to a new outpatient clinic that acts as a primary care provider, making sure they don’t slip through the cracks during transitions.
The Bridge Program is starting at a time when Philadelphia Mayor Cherelle Parker is trying to shut down the largest open-air drug market on the East Coast, in the city’s Kensington neighborhood, where about 35% of the city’s homeless population is located. The Parker administration has said it plans to invest $100 million to build a system of long-term care, treatment and housing for individuals suffering from addiction, mental health challenges and homelessness, although it has not been clear about the specifics.
The city continues to grapple with a record number of fatal drug overdoses that is in large part due to the deadly synthetic opioid fentanyl, which is 50 times more potent than heroin and has been flooding Philadelphia’s, and the nation’s, illicit drug supply. Fentanyl causes intense withdrawal symptoms between injections if there is a delay. Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania found that 1 in 6 patients with opioid use disorder were checking out of hospitals before medically advised, citing untreated withdrawal and pain as the primary reasons, putting them at a higher risk of being readmitted to the hospital or dying within 30 days.
