LISTEN – VACANCY –
Jan. 7, 2022 – “High Point’s admissions team provides all callers with the BSAS hotline, but with many programs not accepting admissions, there isn’t much that can be done at the present time,” said Hillary Dubois, chief of communications and prevention services for High Point. “While the pandemic is a major health crisis, individuals struggling with their substance use/mental health appear to be. impacted the most.”
High Point served nearly 20,000 patients in all of its programs in the last fiscal year, and Dubois says this is the most significant disruption in its services since the pandemic began. Even pre-pandemic, Dubois said the admissions department typically fielded 50-100 calls a day for inpatient services that it could not meet.
Spectrum Health Systems, another large addiction treatment provider which operates 15 sites in Massachusetts, said about one third of its staff is out this week because of the surge in COVID infections. The lack of staffing forced Spectrum to close a 20-bed program in Westboro for a few days this week, but it has been able to keep other programs operating.
