The bright red mobile clinic parked outside a recovery center in Raleigh represents what North Carolina officials say is a promising step toward bringing opioid treatment programs closer to more people who need them.
Expanded use of mobile centers, which can be set up in rural areas that are miles away from brick-and-mortar clinics, are seen as a way to address access challenges.
“We know that transportation is a tremendous barrier to people in this state receiving treatment particularly in rural parts of our state where there is a lack of public transportation and there are long distances between clinics and where people live,” said First Lady Anna Stein, who spoke at the mobile center’s unveiling Tuesday.
“Mobile units can help alleviate burdens felt in our rural areas,” she said. “They also have the potential to serve highly vulnerable and harder to access populations such as people living in shelters or in jails.”
The Morse Clinics, founded by Dr. Eric Morse, runs the clinic parked outside Healing Transitions in Raleigh.
Stein called him a leader in advocating for mobile opioid treatment programs in the state.
The state’s rules have staffing and counseling requirements for the mobile units. They are considered extensions of brick-and-mortar programs and must operate within 75 miles of a clinic.
Healing Transitions offers a long-term recovery program for Wake County residents. Having the mobile unit on its campus puts medications and counseling within easy walking distance of the main building. However, it’s not necessary to be in a Healing Transitions program to use the van.
More mobile units may be open by the end of the year.
Vaya Health, the regional mental health agency with a footprint in western and central North Carolina, plans to use Hurricane Helene recovery money for six units.
Three more mobile units sponsored by private providers could be open in Greensboro, Charlotte, and Raleigh by the end of the year, according to a state Department of Health and Human Services news release.
Fifty-five of the state’s 100 counties have at least one opioid treatment clinic.
Morse said he sees using mobile units to help scout locations for future brick-and-mortar programs.
“I see mobile units as an opportunity to set up locations in places where we’re not sure whether or not they’ll be successful,” he said. “If it is, great, we’ll keep it here. If it’s really successful. We might actually build a clinic here. And if it’s not successful we can just move it to another location.”
County data on the location of overdose deaths can point to places where opioid treatment programs are needed, he said.
“It makes sense to target where people are dying and need our help the most,” Morse said.
Stein said one of her missions is to reduce the stigma surrounding mental health and substance use disorders.
“That stigma has too often resulted in a lack of access to medication-assisted treatment,” she said. “Methadone and buprenorphine, medications provided in our opioid treatment programs, are gold standard treatments for opioid use disorder, and everyone who can benefit from these medications should have access to them.”
Stigma is one of the reasons people don’t seek help, said Kelly Crosbie, director of the Division of Mental Health, Developmental Disabilities and Substance Use Services at DHHS.
Part of the stigma comes from the claim that medication-assisted treatment substitutes one drug for another.
“That’s just silly,” Crosbie said. People aren’t made to feel ashamed for taking medication to treat diabetes or heart conditions, she said.
“Methadone and other medications for opioid use disorder save lives,” Crosbie said. “They help people maintain long-term recovery. To have the lives they were meant to have.”
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