Archives for July 2007

My husband and I both work in a local city hospital. I’m an ER nurse and he’s been a hospital porter and is now an OR Recovery room attendant. Having worked in the field of health care for many years we’ve both seen some fantastic advances in medicine as well as some of the worst illnesses and cases of human suffering that you could imagine.

Working in the ER I care for patients with a variety of ailments. I try to care for each person as well as I can. Unfortunately the hospital is ill equipped to help people suffering from long term addictions. We can help so many people, but unless a person has come in with an overdose of drugs or dangerously high alcohol levels there isn’t much we can do for those that come in repeatedly due to their addictions.

When someone comes into the ER who has drank too much alcohol or who’s taken too many drugs we do everything we can medically to help them, but we can’t really help them with their ongoing addiction. Once these patients are stable we often end up sending them to a rehab facility if there is an opening available, or if they do not have a safe place to stay we will send them to a shelter. These are just temporary solutions and there are far too many people suffering with addictions so a placement for new patients is often hard to find.

That’s one reason why I appreciate places such as 1800nodrugs.com. This website is a non-profit portal that specializes in assisting those who are in need of addiction treatment, or health care workers who are trying to find a placement for their patients find long or short term drug rehabilitation programs.

You can visit the site or call 1800nodrugs at any time of day as they are open and ready to assist those in need 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. The service is 100% free.

The staff at 1800nodrugs specialize in assisting drug addicts, chronic relapse victims, alcoholics and their families find the right type of addiction treatment or rehab program. They aim to find a program that suits the needs of each individual person as what works for one might not work for another.

They have information about the thousands of alcohol rehabilitation and drug treatment facilities across the country. I think this is great because while there might be treatment programs in your general area they might not suit your needs. Contacting 1800nodrugs will allow you to find out about other types of treatment programs which might be more suitable. Certainly if a person is willing to try rehabilitation they should go to a facility that would give them the best chance of success.

The website itself is easy to navigate. The number to call is of course within the domain name, and splashed across the top of every page of the site.

The left hand side of the page contains links to other sections of the site. You can learn more about addiction, alcoholism, relapse prevention, drug rehab, drug trends, alcohol rehab, types of addiction assessment, prescription drug addiction and duel diagnosis by clicking on the links in the left column.

The right hand side of the main page contains links to an online drug assessment form. It’s a short form that I believe will allow you and the staff at 1800nodrugs to discuss treatment plans and options via email if you do not have the ability to talk to the staff by phone or if you just wanted to inquire about drug or alcohol rehabilitation. You’ll also find links to information about international inquiries as well as a link to a section entitled “Get Financing” which will take you to a page that contains a simple form that can be filled out by those who need financial assistance for drug or alcohol treatment.

The main page of the site also has a number of links that will help a person suffering from addiction or their loved one either find a treatment program or learn how to support someone suffering from addiction. The article titles are What is the Best Drug rehab program?, How to break the drug addiction cycle and begin recovery, How to find a drug rehab center, and How to support alcohol recovery. The articles are all very well written and I’m sure you’ll find some helpful information if you were to read one or two of the articles.

If you or a loved one is suffering from drug, prescription drug or alcohol addiction give 1800nodrugs a call. It’s absolutely free and a simple phone call could be the first step to recovery and a long and healthy life.