LAKE CHARLES, LA (KPLC) – A new addiction center has come to the Lake Area.
“The opioid crisis is not something that picks man or woman, it’s not age discriminate, this is something we’re seeing a battle with from teenagers going up to adults and in some cases even senior citizens,” Amy Jones, spokesperson for Lake Wellness Center, said.
Jones said opioid addiction is prevalent at all of their locations across the state.
“What we see here, locally, a lot of, what’s making a comeback, is heroin,” Stacy Arceneaux, clinic manager at the Lake Charles Lake Wellness Center, said.
Just a few weeks ago, Lake Wellness opened 7 new centers across South Louisiana.
“When you look at the opioid crisis, especially in Louisiana, it makes sense to look at where the population centers are. That really played a lot into the decision of where we were going to locate these centers, either along I-12 or I-10,” Jones said.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s most recent numbers, from 2016 to 2017 Louisiana saw a 12.4% increase in overdose deaths— 70 percent of those involved opioids.
“For our state, opiates have always been on the rise, there hasn’t been that decline, it’s just coming in all shapes and forms. We’re seeing the fentanyl,” Arceneaux said.
Arceneaux said treatment revolves around teaching the biology of addiction.
“What I’ve found, and I’ve been in the field since 2007, is that, when you get a patient medically stable, then you can treat the cognitive piece of the behaviors. If you cannot get a patient stable, then they’re unable to focus on getting better and getting healthy and working through some issues that were brought on by addiction,” Arceneaux said.
