While touring the Cascade Community Healthcare Clinic in Chehalis on Thursday, Dan Fagerness, who leads the healthcare providers' substance use disorder (SUD) counseling services, took a helmet off the wall of the group counseling room to show U.S. Sen. Maria Cantwell.
After a decade with the organization, many former patients he sees have left behind tokens of appreciation, each of which tells a story.
The sessions Fagerness leads in the room aren’t always easy.
Many clients come without a strong support system aiding them in their recovery and the stories, he said, don’t always have a happy ending. Some of the tokens on the wall come from clients who lost their battles with chemical dependency.
But Fagerness sees miracles, too, which often occur through a commitment to patience, understanding, and empathy. On this particular piece of memorabilia, the former patient had written “Thank you for helping save my life.”
“You just look at it and think, ‘Holy moly, how blessed are we to be in a position like this to help people out?” Fagerness said. “And it does start with understanding, and caring, and letting them know that we’re here no matter what.”
Cantwell, who was in Lewis County for an update on how federal investments have aided Cascade Community Healthcare’s efforts to expand access to addiction treatment and mental health services, said the relationships Fagerness builds are key to fighting addiction.
“Everybody says the same thing — you have to make somebody feel like you care,” Cantwell said. “If they don’t think anybody cares, they just keep going down this track. But if somebody breaks through, then they’ll respond.”
The visit by Cantwell comes months after the senator helped secure a $928,700 federal grant to expand medication-assisted treatment (MAT) services.
MAT services reduce a patient’s craving for a substance and withdrawal symptoms through medication while they receive SUD behavioral therapy services, which can create a holistic approach when combined.
The grant, announced in September, helped expand MAT access points into Morton and Packwood four days a week and helped fund services offered in the Lewis County Jail.
According to data from the UW, this type of approach decreased overdose mortality rates by 68% among a study of 825 participants, and it’s an approach Cantwell wants to see expanded nationally.
Earlier this year Cantwell and Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-Louisiana, introduced the Fatal Overdose Reduction Act.
The legislation, introduced in May, would expand a low-barrier fentanyl treatment model developed at the University of Washington across the country. If passed, certified Health Engagement Hubs would receive enhanced Medicaid payments for providing substance use disorder treatment, primary care, and case management, among other services.
“We’re trying to carry that torch nationally to get that one-stop shop facility because it seems that that’s what’s successful,” Cantwell said during the tour. “As opposed to having someone come out of jail and not have a place to go for daily treatment.”
The proposal came after Cantwell held roundtable discussions across Washington, where she convened first responders, law enforcement, health care providers, and survivors to discuss the fentanyl crisis.
During Cantwell’s visit to Lewis County, she toured Cascade’s clinics in Chehalis and Centralia and held a roundtable with healthcare workers and law enforcement leaders to hear the progress and challenges officials make in delivering care throughout Lewis County.
“The innovation that’s happening here in delivering care in a complete way, and getting people into treatment and delivering something that can basically move them through to a better situation is really impressive,” Cantwell said in an interview with The Chronicle. “We always liked the fact that there was a community clinic and primary care integration, but getting this additional grant to add capacity has allowed them to expand this care. So we want people to see this model in other parts of the state, and other parts of the country.”
