Ideal Option clinic tackles Bonneville County opioid crisis
IDAHO FALLS, Idaho (KIFI) - Ideal Option held an open house at its clinic in Idaho Falls on Friday. The outpatient addiction medicine clinic is located on N Capital Ave.
Ideal Option opened its doors in Idaho Falls in December 2021.
They treat addiction to opioids like fentanyl, heroin, and oxycodone, and stimulants like methamphetamine and cocaine. Medication-assisted treatment for alcohol withdrawal and relapse prevention is also available.
Members of the community dropped by to learn more about addiction medicine, meet their staff, and discuss ways to tackle the worsening opioid crisis in Bonneville County.
One staff member shared her own experience with a drug addiction disorder.
“My sobriety was, How bad do I want this?" said Dodele. "How bad do I want my sobriety? How bad do I want? Honestly, my sanity.”
Jenna Dodele says she spent years fighting a Methamphetamine Addiction Disorder.
Today, she works as Ideal Option's peer outreach advocate. She helps struggling addicts on their own road to recovery.
At Friday's open house, experts shared research on drug addiction and how to treat it.
“Research has shown that continued use of substances affects the brain," said Community Outreach Manager Kimberly Hill. "Versus just an abuse where people are using it on their own free will.”
Reported overdose deaths have skyrocketed across the nation in the last three years, largely due to fentanyl.
According to the Idaho State Police, from January to September 2021, more than 125,000 fentanyl pills were seized statewide, a 562% increase from 2020.
Ideal Option’s own lab testing data, collected from patients across Idaho, show a 242% increase in positive fentanyl drugs tests from September 2020.
Experts at Ideal Option believe reducing the stigma around opioid addiction and other drug disorders will pave the road to recovery.
“It's not an addiction. It's a disease. And the stigma that follows with the hush hush is what feeds that addiction," said Dodele.
