Recovery Connect app fights opioid crisis, Milwaukee Co. 8th for deaths
MILWAUKEE - Milwaukee County ranks eighth in the country for overdose deaths among large cities and counties, and the Recovery Connect app offers a direct line to life-saving help.
A report shows the leading cause of death for people ages 25 to 54 is fentanyl.
"At this point, I think everybody knows somebody who has been touched by this," said Ryan Gorman, Community Medical Services.
While many have some sort of connection, addiction itself is isolating.
"Especially during COVID, we saw that disconnection," said Mark Schaefer, Community Medical Services.
Recovery Connect app
"It leaves you very much alone," said Gorman.
Climbing your way out isn’t easy, and the stakes are high.
"Lots of high barriers to accessing treatment," said Gorman, adding that he was able to quit his own opioid use in 2010. "I was afforded the luxury of time and trial and error. I don’t know that a lot of people now alive and using opioids have that luxury."
Fentanyl is contributing to more deadly overdoses than ever, and a San Francisco Chronicle database shows, adjusting for population, Milwaukee County ranks eighth among large cities and counties in the country when it comes to overdose deaths.
Recovery Connect app
"Access to services, accessing state insurance, accessing county funding, grant funding to attend the treatment of your choice is very, very difficult," said Gorman.
Gorman said tools are needed to combat this.
"That’s all recovery is," said Gorman. "It’s just adding more things to a toolbox."
The Recovery Connect app was designed by Bright Therapeutics and Community Medical Services, which has clinics in the Milwaukee area.
"It’s like having a small form of treatment in your pocket," said Schaefer.
The app allows clients to message their counselors when needed and offers ways to stay on track, like photos users can upload that remind them of the reason they're in recovery.
"There’s this continuity to the care," said Schaefer. "These are things that pop up when I’m having these difficulties and reminds me, ‘Hey, this is why I’m doing this. This is why I’m focusing on it.’"
Recovery Connect app
Schaefer isn’t in recovery himself but has ties to the epidemic, like so many do.
"I have two older siblings who went through opioid use disorder for two decades," said Schaefer. "(We do) everything we can do to improve it and make it easier for people to get into treatment, because we know there’s more people that would benefit from treatment that aren’t."
Reflecting on his own recovery, Gorman said it’s all about staying connected to support in whatever way works for you.
"I think community is probably at the top of the list," said Gorman. "It’s absolutely huge and, I think, impossible without it."
Fentanyl
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Even if you’re not a Community Medical Services client, you can download the Recovery Connect app for free. Schaefer said it can be a less intimidating first step toward getting treatment.