Her home. Cooking dinner for her 6-year-old son. Her job as a community health worker with Tacoma-Pierce County Health Department.
But six-and-a-half years ago, DuCrest would not have imagined the life she is living now. “I was homeless,” DuCrest said. “I have been to jail many, many, many times. My last stint was going to result in a lot of prison time.”
DuCrest suffers from Opioid Use Disorder (OUD). She strived to get off opioids when she learned she was pregnant with her son. Many things helped “save her life,” she says, including taking methadone, a medication for OUD.
“It’s really important for me to speak up,” DuCrest said. “Just to let people know you can live a regular, normal life when you’re on methadone. It’s helped me get stable in my mental health and stay away from drugs for 6½ years.”
But now, DuCrest and others recovering from OUD face obstacles to get their lifesaving medication: COVID-19.
“It’s been really difficult to watch people struggle so hard,” DuCrest said. “It’s just really difficult for everybody right now. Throw Opioid Use Disorder and mental health on top of it, and it’s more of a struggle.”
Barriers to getting lifesaving medication
Following statewide and national trends, Pierce County opioid poisoning (overdose) deaths and hospitalizations started to climb in early 2020 and continue to break records.
Washington state Department of Health reported 102 Pierce County opioid poisoning deaths in the first 6 months of 2021. Deaths were 2.2 times higher than 2020 and nearly 3 times higher than 2019.
While people use opioids for multiple reasons, the COVID-19 pandemic has contributed to increased opioid misuse.
“I know a lot of people are struggling,” DuCrest said. “People are isolated, and that contributes to behavioral health problems in general. Of course, it could exacerbate Opioid Use Disorder.”
DuCrest works in the Health Department’s Treatment Services program, which provides medication for Opioid Use Disorder in the form of methadone and suboxone. Treatment Services also provides recovery support, access to healthcare and emergency life-saving naloxone. DuCrest says challenges to meet basic life needs create more barriers for people suffering from OUD.
“If you don’t have a car and don’t have money for the bus, getting to the clinic on a daily basis can be a difficult thing to do,” she said.
New barriers came with COVID-19, like less public transportation and less face-to-face clinic time. “It’s been a big adjustment for everybody,” DuCrest said. “We think we have it figured out, and we have to figure it out again.”
Small wins helped. Some patients are now able to take home medicine and do check-ins online. But constant changes are hard for patients.
“A patient will feel like they have it figured out, and then their car breaks down or someone gets sick,” DuCrest said. “One thing changes, and all the blocks fall because they’re not able to get those support services.”
Helping stabilize
Work to reduce long-held barriers and stigma is underway. DuCrest works with the Pierce County Opioid Task Force, a cross-sector joint effort between Pierce County, City of Tacoma and Tacoma-Pierce County Health Department. The task force promotes positive behavioral health and well-being and works to reduce stigma.
DuCrest hopes COVID-19 barriers are easier to overcome as people focus on the most important things in life.
“I hope that this has brought us all together,” DuCrest said of the COVID-19 pandemic. “Realizing how important it is for people to be able to see each other and work together is something that is going to be really nice coming out of it.”
Ending the pandemic can help people suffering from OUD get the medications they need. Vaccinations are the quickest way to end the pandemic. Find your COVID-19 vaccine dose today at tpchd.org/vaxtothefuture.
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- Wear your mask.
- If you’re sick, stay home.
- Wash your hands frequently.
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