Residents, advocates and a few legislators gathered in Burlington last week to discuss additional recovery efforts, what’s working and what’s missing.
The panel discussion “Recovery First in Burlington” was hosted by Building Burlington’s Future, a group formed in June by some private sector and government leaders and residents to find solutions to challenges facing the city, including addiction recovery.
Moderator Peter Clavelle served as Burlington’s mayor from 1989 to 1993 and then from 1995 to 2006.
He began the panel discussion noting that everyone attending shares one thing in common.
“We’re all concerned citizens. This community faces many challenges. We know what they are,” Clavelle said. “And I am pleased to see, though, that I think we’re making progress. And I’m really pleased that we’re seeing collaboration between the city, between the governor, between the State’s Attorney’s office, between the stakeholders. So tonight we’re going to take a slice of it. We’re going to focus on treatment.”
Clavelle then dived in, asking the four panelists what the theme, Recovery First, means to them and how they see recovery connecting to Burlington’s broader challenges. Cam Lauf is Executive Director of Turning Point Center, which provides recovery support services.
“It’s been a response to looking at compounding crises across multiple sectors affecting frontline support professionals, affecting health care professionals, affecting emergency responses, affecting business communities and seeing a continued frustration. Individuals in recovery are having a hard time staying in recovery. It’s also a lot harder to get into recovery,” Lauf said.
Later, Howard Center Director of Outpatient Services Dan Hall focused on harm reduction identifying some of the things that are working in the addiction recovery sector.
“What’s working well is Vermont has a very low infectious disease rate, one of the lowest in the country. That is in big part to the services of our syringe service programs throughout the state. We have Narcan readily available. We have access to drug check-in and a host of other interventions to really reduce the risk of overdose. So there’s a lot that’s going really well,” Hall said. “And I don’t want to make this all about syringes, but there is a lot of collaborative effort going on, more than I have ever seen to address that. So I think that’s a positive.”
Those attending were also given an opportunity to ask questions and make comments. Ed Baker, a long-time substance use and public health advocate, said the discussion left him optimistic.
"When I began my career in this field everything that you do didn’t exist,” Baker noted. “There was no hub-and-spoke. There was no mobile unit. There was no safe syringe program. There were hardly any recovery beds, maybe Oxford House. There were no emergency departments with low barrier buprenorphine and recovery coaches. There were no recovery centers. So my question is what’s the next expansion?”
University of Vermont Medical Center Emergency Medicine Specialist Dr. Daniel Wolfson said federal restrictions need to be addressed.
“We’re not allowed to admit people to the hospital for opioid use disorder treatment. We can admit them for alcohol withdrawal, but not opioid use disorder. A lot of people I think would actually benefit from coming in, getting their medications, getting stabilized,” Wolfson said. “It’s just, it’s a federal thing. It’s just not allowed.”
The discussion also included the role of the courts and law enforcement in addiction recovery.
