
The Groton clinic was initially funded by a federal grant responding to the rate of opioid overdoses in neighboring communities. Stratigos, who was terminated by Emerson with the ending of the program, prescribed medications for drug, alcohol and nicotine addictions at both facilities. In addition to the clinic in Concord, Stratigos ran one out of an Emerson medical building in Groton that one has also been shut down. It literally saved my life," Kinghorn said. But then she switched him to a monthly injection of Sublocade, the extended-release form of the medication. That's the daily oral form of the medication buprenorphine, which is considered a gold standard to treat opioid use disorder. He fell deep into his addiction and started buying drugs off the street.Ībout a year later, an online search led him to the Emerson clinic, which was located in an old colonial-style house on hospital grounds. At first, Stratigos prescribed Suboxone for him. But in 2019, he said, doctors prescribed the painkiller again after a procedure. He was able to stop taking the pills on his own back then. Kinghorn said he became addicted to Ox圜ontin in 2005 after he broke his foot. Stephanie Stratigos, that he was in good spirits and his medication was working well he had no cravings or urges to use opioids. At a recent appointment, the 37-year-old told his addiction medicine physician, psychiatrist Dr.
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One of the patients who used the Emerson program is Joey Kinghorn. But patients, advocates and the doctor who ran the program say the area of the state it served lacks medication treatment programs for substance use disorders and that the closing harms people who need that care. Hospital officials said they're shifting priorities. Patients from an outpatient medication addiction treatment program run by Emerson Hospital in Concord have to go elsewhere for that care.Įmerson Health, which operates the hospital, shut down the program Friday, only a few years after it opened.


Stephanie Stratigos administered a dose of Sublocade to Joey Kinghorn at the substance use disorder treatment clinic she ran at Emerson Hospital.
