Welcome to Taking Healthcare by Storm, Industry Insights, the podcast that delves into the captivating intersection of innovation, science, compassion and care.
In each episode, Quality Insights Medical Director, Dr.
Jean Storm will have the privilege of engaging with leading experts across diverse fields, including dieticians, pharmacists and brave patients navigating their own healthcare journeys.
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Hello, everyone, and welcome to Taking Healthcare by Storm.
This is Dr.
Jean Storm.
I am the Medical Director at Quality Insights, and I am so very excited to bring you our guest, Dominique Marcus is the Assistant Director of Raleigh County Healthy Families Alliance and Support Center.
She is truly a beacon of hope in West Virginia in all things around recovery and overdose prevention.
And I am inspired by her story, and she's gonna tell us today, as well as the important work that she is doing in West Virginia.
So welcome, Dominique.
Thank you for coming on the podcast.
Thank you for having me.
So let's just jump in, and can you tell us about yourself and how you came to do what you do?
Sure.
As you said, I'm Dominique Marcus.
I guess, well, I kind of fell into it.
I'm a person in recovery myself.
I have eight years into my recovery journey now.
And I had attended a substance use prevention event and fell in love with it.
So that's kind of how I came to do everything that I do.
I'm an advocate and a harm reduction and outreach worker.
I do volunteer work.
And I'm also the Assistant Director of Raleigh County Healthy Families Alliance and Support Center.
So I kind of wear a lot of hats.
I'm also a mother of three and a wife of 14 years.
So I've got a lot going on.
Yes, you definitely have a lot going on.
So have you always lived in West Virginia?
And if not, what brought you here?
Well, no, I was born in Tennessee in a little town.
Well, I guess it's grown now, it's Crossville.
I was raised in Memphis.
My dad worked for the federal prison.
And that's what moved us here.
They had built the new Beckley FCI, Beckley Prison and Beaver.
And my dad transferred so he could do the training and stuff.
And we fell in love and just kind of stayed.
Yeah, I feel like that's a common theme amongst myself as well.
Actually, I live in Pennsylvania now, but I'm currently in West Virginia.
And there's something about West Virginia.
I've tried to move like three different times in my adult life and something always brings me back.
It just feels like home.
Yeah, yes.
So tell us about the Raleigh County Healthy Families Alliance Support Center.
The Raleigh County Healthy Family Alliance and Support Center, it's designed to meet the needs of the community and provide as much care as possible for everyone in the community that we serve.
We collaborate with statewide and county agencies, and we're just here to serve our community to make a difference and affect positive change within the community.
We offer multiple things.
We do prevention services, recovery services.
We have educational programs such as parenting, life skills for youth and adult, job skills training, conflict resolution.
For the youth, we have after school tutoring and summer youth programs.
And we also have play groups for age five and under.
We have food, hygiene, household cleaning supply and baby pantries that anyone in the community who's in need can come in at any time and get what they need.
We do youth and family activities throughout the year and parent to parent support groups, as well as different hobby groups as well.
So much support that's needed.
Yes.
So, you mentioned a little bit about your journey.
And I think we'll talk about that in a little bit.
But how did you become interested in the opioid epidemic just overall?
Well, so in, I think it was, I guess it was 2021, I had volunteered at a Stable Life Day, which is a one-day event.
And at the time, it was just counties in West Virginia that had gotten together, decided to do naloxone distribution for that one day.
And there was multiple locations throughout our county that did it.
And I kind of just fell in love.
And I had no idea about peer recovery coaches and that that was even a thing, because whenever I began my recovery journey, it wasn't unless you were in a treatment facility.
So just outside of treatment facilities, you didn't really see, you know, peer recovery coaches.
And I was at a station with multiple peer recovery coaches and they explained to me what they did and like the outreach that they did in the community.
And something about it just felt right.
And I've been going ever since.
That's fantastic.
So you talked a little bit about your recovery journey.
And I will just say I was inspired when you told me the story.
So can you tell the listeners the story of your own recovery journey?
I'm sure.
So whenever I was 16, I was in an ATV accident and I hurt my back really badly.
I didn't realize how badly it was hurt.
A few years later, I guess I was 25.
It was my second spinal for a C-section.
Something after that procedure, my back was just...
My legs would give out from underneath me.
I was in horrible pain all the time.
And I had a 2-year-old and a newborn to take care of.
So my doctor had written me opioids.
And I was really good for a few years.
You know, took them how I was supposed to.
And where I wasn't in that lifestyle, you know, I grew up kind of straight-laced and, you know, stayed away from drugs and stayed away from stuff like that.
So in my mind, I thought, as long as you take it how the doctor tells you to take it, it'll be okay.
It's only the people who misuse it and abuse it that end up, you know, addicted.
I found out that that was quite wrong.
So after about 3 years of taking it how I was supposed to, it started becoming, I started building a tolerance.
And then my doctor passed away.
So I didn't have a doctor to write me the things anymore.
And they were insanely expensive to buy on the street.
And you weren't sure if you were getting, you know, what you were told you were getting.
So it was kind of a scary time.
So I ended up, you know, buying off of the streets and then it became, like I said, way too expensive.
$40 to make me feel normal for four hours was getting a little outrageous.
So I ended up, you know, trying other drugs, other opioids, heroin, and that took me down a horrible road.
But after a few years of living extremely rough, my husband and I, my husband went through it with me and he was just right there beside me the whole time doing what I was doing.
And somehow he held down a job the entire time, which I don't know how he did it, but he's an amazing man.
So we decided to just go ahead and get it together, you know, do it for each other, ourselves, our kids, you know, our family.
And we just wanted a normal life.
So we've reached out to probably six different MAT treatment facilities, medicated assisted treatment.
So Suboxone Clinics and Methadone Clinics.
And we didn't have a car because we had been, you know, living extremely rough for a few years.
So we couldn't get to the Methadone Clinic every day because we lived across the county from it.
So we finally got into a Suboxone program and that program completely changed both of our lives.
It was within two weeks, you know, we both, we were starting to get our stuff together.
Within a month, we had a vehicle, you know, we really got it together.
And if it wasn't for that program, I don't know where we would be.
And we were really lucky to be able to get in because a lot of places were turning people away.
So, but that's how my story kind of unfolded.
I ended up relapsing in 2000, the very beginning of 2019, my husband did not.
And I was back in the madness for about three months.
And then I finally got it back together again.
And that's around the time whenever I was getting, you know, getting it together is whenever I found about peer recovery coaches.
So I feel like it was a perfect thing and that has kept me, I think that that plays a lot into my recovery, is working with people, you know, who are seeking treatment or who are in recovery themselves.
Like it really does help.
I can imagine just, you have just an amazing inspiring story.
So it's, I'm sure it's going to inspire a lot of people who are, you know, perhaps at different stages in their journey as well.
So in your opinion, why do you feel that West Virginia has been so hard hit with the opioid pandemic?
I think in the beginning, it was, you know, obviously the pharmaceutical companies coming in and the doctors, you know, prescribing the lies that were told to people, you know, that it wasn't, it wasn't an addictive thing.
Only 1% of people get addicted to this.
So the overprescribing of that, I think, really played a big part in that.
And the economy, the way that it kind of twists and turns in Appalachia because of, you know, the coal mines.
So you'll have a big coal company come in and the men and women who work in the mines end up, you know, injured most of the time.
So they go to the doctor, they get a prescription, they get, you know, they get hooked on it, and then it just kind of spirals from there.
So I think it just, it was really just that overprescribing that caused West Virginia the biggest hit.
Yeah, really, really challenging.
Continue to dig out from that.
How did you feel, how do you feel the COVID pandemic affected West Virginia in the area of opioids?
I really do think that it affected West Virginia.
We were really hard hit with that.
I think just people not being able to access, you know, treatment or even other people to be able to speak and, you know, talk about what their needs are.
I think that it affected that way, you know, negatively, but also I think it brought a little bit of positive in with like the Zoom NA meetings and the telehealth and all of that, that made it a little, a little bit more easily accessible for people.
Yeah, I would agree.
It did make telehealth, you know, kind of forefront in our minds about with solutions.
Do you feel that individuals still have a hard time accessing treatment for opioid use disorder?
I think that they do.
A lot of people are, and it's, you know, the stigma around opioid use disorder or substance use disorder in general is it's still very hard to explain to people, you know, that this is a disease, this, you know, so it's hard to break that stigma.
But I think that that plays the biggest part in people being able to access treatment, both as in getting into clinics and things like that, if they're willing to, you know, look past the stigma around it.
But I think that it's a little bit easier now than it was before, like we were talking about with telehealth, you know, we can do that.
People, transportation is a big deal here.
People don't have access to transportation.
We don't have public transportation except for just right around in downtown where I live, Beckley.
So there isn't public transportation to get to and from anywhere.
You do have like the mode of care and things like that, that are through Medicaid.
But a lot of times, you know, that can't be, that's not dependable all the time.
Yeah, it's just really, it's really a shame.
I feel like, you know, I was going to ask you about stigma.
And then, so you still feel that there is stigma around individuals receiving treatment for opioid use disorder?
Definitely.
I know that as a person who works, you know, in recovery and works, you know, with people who are still in active substance use, I still feel the stigma.
When I'm speaking to these people, you know, I've had people yell at me and tell me not to help them.
And just from their car.
And it breaks my heart because, you know, that I've spent time gaining the trust of this person, you know, telling them I'm going to help them and we can get them into treatment.
And then to hear something like that just out of nowhere, it's really heartbreaking.
Yeah, yeah, I can imagine.
So let's talk about the support center.
So let us tell us what the center's unique approach to naloxone distribution is.
Well, you can always access naloxone here at the center.
I also do outreach.
I keep it in my car with me all the time.
So if I were to pass by someone and they needed it, they just need to have a sticker all over my car that says I carry naloxone.
But we teach people how to do it.
I can train people here at the center.
If they needed to learn, I can train them how to use naloxone.
And I can also train them to train others to use naloxone.
And this year on September 24th, there is a Save a Life Day event that I am the Raleigh County organizer for that.
And that's going to be all of the states east of the Mississippi this year.
So last year we had 13 states that were doing it as well.
But this year it's going to be all of the states that are east of the Mississippi that are going to participate in Save a Life Day.
So we do events and things like that just to break stigma as well, you know, within the community to get them more familiar with what it is and why it's needed and how it works and why they should carry it.
Yes, very important, very important information to get out there.
Definitely.
So I wanted to touch on xylazine just for a bit.
So just as a refresher, can you tell us what xylazine is and then have you seen any evidence of xylazine in the West Virginia drug supply?
Definitely.
It has hit West Virginia to kind of go over what xylazine is.
It was actually discovered in 1962 in Germany and it was used as an anti-hypertensive.
But now it is an animal tranquilizer and it's not approved for human consumption whatsoever.
It's used in combination with drugs like heroin and fentanyl in order to increase the effects.
And people who inject drugs tend to get skin necrosis, abscesses and then xylazine-induced cellulitis.
It's endless.
But the source that can come from it, it doesn't happen with everyone, but some people get necrosis just pop up in places that they don't even inject.
So it's a very scary thing.
Naloxone does not work on xylazine.
That's why it's important to know CPR and to call 911.
But basically call 911, give naloxone, even though it doesn't work on the xylazine, it will work on the opioid, and then you'll just have to do rescue breaths or compressions or whatever is needed case-to-case basis for hair overs using it.
Yeah, it's really, really problematic.
So what is the support center doing for wound care associated with xylazine?
Well, I can treat wounds myself if anyone were to come in and have a wound that they needed taken care of.
I can do that.
We also work with other organizations within the community that do outreach.
We go out with them and provide wound care.
We give xylazine testing strips, which are now legal in West Virginia.
They were considered paraphernalia, but now they're legal.
And those are always on hand for anyone who needs them anytime I'm out in the community or anytime they stop by the center.
So if anyone were to ever need anything like that, I can treat it.
I can show them how to take care of it.
And then if they need help afterwards, then we can get them the resources that they need.
That's just wonderful.
It sounds like the support center is all encompassing care for individuals with opioid use disorder and coming into recovery.
So how do people get access to the support center?
Well, they can either they can just walk in.
We're open Monday through Friday, and we are located at 1332 Ritter Drive in Daniels, West Virginia.
They can also email me.
My email address is dominique.marcus at strongcommunities.org.
Or they can give me a call.
My number is 304-222-5825.
And if anybody is in the area of Raleigh County or anyone listening that needs any type of resource, I can figure out what resource they need for where they're at and definitely get them where they need to be.
Fantastic.
So one last question.
If you were in charge of health care in the United States, what is the first thing you would do?
That's a hard one.
Yeah, I guess easier access.
I'm not sure how I would do that, but easier access for everyone who needs any type of health care.
I think I would try to figure out a way how to do that and that way people who are battling substance use disorder who may not have insurance or may not have Medicaid or anything, then they would be able to get the help that they need without having to worry about that.
Very much important.
Access is a big problem.
So I think that's a great problem to tackle first.
Dominique Marcus, thank you so much for joining us.
I truly enjoyed the conversation and I know it will be a great help to those listening.
Well, thank you.
Thank you so much for having me.
I'm really glad to get to do this and to get our name out there and what we do.
It's not just substance use disorder.
I can get you resources for anything you may need.
Great.
Thank you again.
Thank you.
Thank you for tuning in to Taking Healthcare by Storm, Industry Insights, with Quality Insights Medical Director, Dr.
Jean Storm.
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So until next time, stay curious, stay compassionate, and keep taking healthcare by storm.
