Vantage Point

By Angela Burdick-McPhee, LPC, CAADC, PPMC's director of Behavioral Health Programs

There’s been a real shift away from stigma in health care conversations regarding substance misuse and mental health. More providers are comfortable bringing up these topics with their patients. Those discussions are happening more and more as they relate to their medical care plans and overall wellbeing.

Within Behavioral Health Services, we’re partnering with providers throughout the health system to get patients the help they need. Substance misuse and mental health concerns impact such a great number of people, from all different experiences. We have individuals suffering throughout our hospitals, not only in our inpatient and outpatient behavioral health programs.

A year ago, we began a collaboration with the Penn Transplant Institute to assist patients who’ve been recently diagnosed with liver failure due to alcohol-associated hepatitis and need a liver transplant immediately. The transplant team has seen a dramatic increase in patients in need of liver transplants due to pandemic drinking – since 2018, the numbers have increased almost 400% – and while in the past, the program referred patients to traditional community drug and alcohol programs, some patients felt uncomfortable in those settings.

Led by Behavioral Health Counselor Lynda Coraluzzi, MS, CADC, our specialized recovery program for liver transplant patients is designed to keep them engaged with their doctor and transplant team and, most importantly, prevent or reduce the chance that they might return to drinking after transplant. The highest risk for return to harmful drinking in the post-transplant population is within the first three months, and in our first cohort of patients, our relapse rate was zero after three months. Patients have continued to remain engaged post-treatment and we have continued to expand our services to this specialized group.

Our team is excited to be talking with other departments throughout the health system to provide support for patients who are experiencing substance misuse concurrent with other medical conditions.

Delivering the highest quality, evidence-based care is central to our hospital’s mission. We do this by providing patients with the information to make their own decisions and supporting them in their journeys. Ultimately, our goal is simple: to find and help as many patients as possible, wherever they may be.