Jan. 30-The Community Foundation of Greater Flint has authorized a $10,000 grant from the Clayton K. Stroup Endowment Fund to help fund the Hurley Medical Center Substance Use and Addiction Disorders Project. This project will provide specialized treatment services for patients with substance use/addiction disorders and complications.

“Through this groundbreaking and vital project, a physician with training and demonstrated competency in substance use disorders, withdrawal management, and treatment protocols will be used as a consultant to patients on the medical units of Hurley Medical Center. In particular, these patients will include those in the psychiatric unit, in which the incidents of co-occurring psychiatric and substance use disorders are disproportionately higher than in other patient populations,” says Mike Burnett, Hurley Administrator for Clinical Programs.

The Substance Use and Addiction Disorders Project will serve those patients who are uninsured or underinsured and, as a result, have no other resources with which to obtain such services. Without this assistance, individuals with addiction disorders would not have the opportunity to alter their self-destructive substance abuse behavior.

The $10,000 grant from the Community Foundation of Greater Flint will enable physicians to consult the Substance Use and Addiction Disorders Project – in effect, an “addiction medicine” service – in order to effectively diagnose and treat complications related to substance abuse.

The goals of the Substance Use and Addiction Disorders Project are: 

• Appropriately connecting patients to needed community resources and treatment providers post-discharge

• Providing education to care providers on the diagnosis of addiction disorders and treatment

• Providing feedback and data to the AHurley Medical Center's quality improvement programs regarding addiction and withdrawal issues

• Assisting in the development and/or provision of graduate medical education lectures related to the diagnosis of addiction and withdrawal issues