Frisbie CEO's war against opioid crisis enters new phase

The old Hair Excitement building will be home to a mental health center that deals with drug addiction issues. It is expected to open this fall. (Courtesy photo)

ROCHESTER - When an especially potent - and dangerous - batch of heroin or fentanyl hits the streets of Rochester, you know within an hour or so, says Frisbie Memorial Hospital CEO John Marzinzik.

"The users rush to get it, it makes no sense, but they do," he said on Tuesday.

This sentiment - to rush toward what could easily kill you - defies logic, he admits, but is at the core of understanding the daunting task of staunching the carnage of fatal overdoses the city is seeing.

Recent numbers showing that overdoses and overdose deaths in the city have spiked doesn't surprise Marzinzik, who has taken on the role of fierce advocate in fighting the epidemic.

He notes that Frisbie led the local initiative to get Rochester Police carrying the heroin overdose antidote Narcan and getting pharmacies to offer it as well. The hospital also helped ramrod the opening of the Community Recovery Center, which has helped some 200 addicts since it opened last fall.

But Marzinzik likes to look for what he calls opportunities to fight the epidemic "upstream," like in the areas of mental health, chronic pain management and youth outreach.

"We've already done a lot," he said. "Now we have to look upstream. There are two drivers to substance abuse. There's mental health and there's long-term pain."

Marzinzik already has plans in place to tackle both "drivers."

First, Frisbie will open a center treating mental health issues in the Hair Excitement building at 39 South Main St., hopefully, this fall.

"It will be certified to deal with substance abuse and with youth with regard to addiction," he said, adding that some 80 percent of addiction is complicated with mental health issues.

"We want to build a mental health bridge to help those suffering from both, which many of them are," he said. "We have to dissect whether it's alcohol, pain, mental health, depression, bipolar or psychotic" that leads them to using heroin.

The recovery center behind District Court also specializes in the drug addiction/mental health connection, however the center on South Main would provide a more clinical setting for treatment.

The center would provide free services to the homeless and veterans, he added.

Frsibie CEO John Marzinzik

The other major initiative planned is in the management of chronic pain, which needs to become more centralized and transparent, he said.

Right now, he said if a patient goes outside of the Frisbie medical network for pain meds, their Frisbie primary care physician might not even be notified.

He wants to make sure that can't happen, so that the primary care physician stays in the loop.

"We want to make it so any info will flow to the primary," he said. "So if you're refused more pain meds insurance, we can help through the primary care network. Maybe we can lock you into other meds, like suboxone, or maybe even experiment with yoga or acupuncture.
"We want to get them taken care of no matter what, not just leave them hanging," he added, especially since a heroin fix can cost less than a pack of cigarettes.

But perhaps the single most important bridge toward making inroads against heroin addiction is youth outreach, he said.

That's where a groundbreaking teen-to-teen based program to open at the Community Recovery Center comes into play.

Marzinzik said they are now in discussions with an outside company to develop special youth-to-youth counselors who would be matched with at-risk youth who have similar life experiences.

The program would be for at-risk teens 13 and older.

"We would encourage families to work together," Marzinzik said, "but they will be able to come off the street and get into the program without their parents, too.

"We have to show what this can do to the younger kids, maybe get them not to take that left hand turn. If we can save one kids life that's worth it."

While Marzinzik, Frisbie, Rochester Police and the city are seen at the forefront in the battle against opioid addiction, Marzinzik said there's a long, long way to go.

"It might take us 10 years to beat this thing, but one you start it you don't pull the plug."