NORTHPORT, Ala. (WIAT) — The DCH Health System Mental Health Clinic facility in Northport has had many successes treating patients.
North Harbor Pavilion operates an injection clinic, and Valerie Alford, the facility’s program director, said it’s making a big difference.
“The past 14 months have been an amazing time,” Alford said. “We have seen patients who have been hospitalized, in some cases within three months, and some of whom have gone back to work and have improved relationships with their families. They got their lives back.”
This injection is used to treat patients suffering from illnesses such as schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. He has eight staff members in the program, and so far he has had 55 patients referred to the clinic and treated.
“Patients often do not take their daily medications because they are admitted to the hospital seeking stabilization,” Alford said. “When they get ready to go home, it can’t stabilize their condition, so we give them a long-acting injection alternative, and that injection is given once a month or every two weeks. One dose will be administered.”
Alford said long-acting injection clinics allow patients to develop a therapeutic relationship where they can trust the staff and come in for their medical injections. Since the program’s inception, North Harbor’s success rate has been close to his 50%.
