Dr. Vicki Ittel has worked in the addiction Pennsylvania, Dr. Ittel received her PhD from SUNY Stony Brook, completed a Postdoctoral Fellowship at Boston University, and an MBA from New Hampshire College. Since divesting her previous addiction clinics, Dr. Ittel relocated to Raleigh to help address the need for increased treatment resources in eastern North Carolina and has partnered with Drs. Morse and Stanton as an owner PROVIDING ACCESS After attending a meeting in Washington D.C. to discuss substance abuse, Dr. Ittel was asked to expand Mountain Health Solutions, treatment centers for opioid addiction. At the time, North Wilkesboro, North Carolina had the highest death rate per capita, but no treatment resources. She and colleague Elizabeth Stanton opened another outpatient treatment center, which provided medication-assisted treatments such as suboxone and methadone to assist opioid recovery. Not long after the center opened, death rates in the area went down. “I’m proud of the work we did there,” Dr. Ittel says. “We provided a lot of people with the treatment they didn’t have access to before.” When it comes to the alarming drug-related death rates in North Wilkesboro, Dr. Ittel says it’s a common problem for small towns where the economy is dependent on physically challenging labor. “You tend to see more opioid addiction in places where the jobs are more dangerous,” Dr. Ittel says. “Workers start taking pain pills for an injury and it becomes an addiction.” Dr. Ittel believes our current opioid use epidemic impacts all ages, socioeconomic status, and
geographic areas. One of the contributors to the epidemic is that opioid use may begin for legitimate purposes and is prescribed by a physician. Though there are guidelines doctors must follow, Dr. Ittel says there’s a need for more training in regards to prescribing painkillers and monitoring the process with patients. Another distinction is an opioid’s ability to “hijack” your body, according to Dr. Ittel. Stopping use such as body aches, vomiting, diarrhea and pain sensitivity. With methadone-assisted treatment, methadone or buprenorphine attaches to opioid receptors in the brain to normalize brain chemistry, so patients can taper off their addiction slowly without the overwhelming physical symptoms.
COO OF MORSE CLINICS BRINGS TWO DECADES OF NEUROPSYCHOLOGY EXPERIENCE
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